Every September the Terry Fox Run is held in Canada and circa 56 countries across the world. The event honours the memory of Terry Fox who died from cancer whilst trying to run across Canada with the aim of raising money for cancer research.
On Friday 23 September AFNORTH International School organized their own Terry Fox Run on the 36th anniversary of the event. Teachers, visitors and students gathered together around the AFNORTH running track to run, jog or walk laps for a period of 45 minutes.
Last year around 5000 Euros were collected and donated to an association helping those families with young children fighting cancer.
Potted history: Terrance Stanley ‘Terry’ Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.
While in hospital Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of whom were young children, that he decided to run across Canada, from coast to coast, to raise money for cancer research. Sadly, he died before completing his quest. His epic run was named the Marathon of Hope.