Strictly Canadian: Terry Fox Trivia Quiz

Answer: Osteogenic Sarcoma

Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958 - June 28, 1981) of Port Conquitlam, British Columbia was a very active athlete, he was competitive, and enjoyed sports. When he was 18 he experienced pain in his right knee and after seeing the doctor he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma, bone cancer. With the odds of beating cancer in the 50-70% range he had surgery and chemotherapy. His right leg was amputated 15 cms above the knee. During his time in the hospital he saw the full effects of cancer, not only on himself but of the other patients there. Seeing this made him decided to do something about it. His solution was to bring attention to cancer and cancer research. Terry decided to run across Canada on his artificial leg raising money that would go towards cancer research.
Three and a half years into his remission, over halfway done his run, he was forced to stop. The cancer had returned and spread to his lungs. There was a tumor in his lungs. Due to the size and location (too close to his heart) the tumor was not totally removed. Terry died in the early hours on June 28th 1981.
All information about Terry comes from the Terry Fox website (http://www.terryfoxrun.org/english/home/default.asp?s=1) all of the directly quoted words in this quiz are from the book "Terry Fox: His Story" by Leslie Scrivener.

Answer: Marathon of Hope

"With me it isn't a political or racial thing, it's just a human thing. Cancer can strike anybody. I'm trying to help out everyone with my run." Terry, wearing an artificial leg, was determined to run from one coast of Canada to the other coast. He had lost his leg to cancer, and was in remission.

He wanted a cure for cancer, and decided to do something that would contribute towards finding a cure. The name that was given to his run is the "Marathon of Hope." Terry started the Marathon of Hope on April 12th 1980. Before the run he had practiced running, he ran 3159.5 miles, for himself, the next 5300 miles he said were for everyone else.

The Marathon of Hope was cut short when he was unable to continue because his cancer had returned.

He was forced to stop at Thunder Bay, Ontario. During the Marathon of Hope Terry raised $1.7 million.

Answer: $23 million

The town of Port Aux Basque, Newfoundland, with a population of 10,000 raised $10,000 for Terry's cause. Terry saw the potential; he changed his goal from raising one million to twenty-three million. "I just wish people would realize that anything's possible, if you try; dreams are made, if people try." He believed that it was possible to receive one dollar for every Canadian, 23 million Canadians meant 23 million dollars. The Marathon of Hope run itself raised $1.7 million. There were some creative fundraising events held to help Terry and his cause. Brad Barker of Mississauga, Ontario raised $5,000 by crawling on his knees for 11.5 miles. Freddie Sless of Hamilton Ontario raised $912 by sitting in a tub of banana-lemon custard.

In February 1981 the Canadian population was at 24.1 million people, Terry raised (to that point) 24.17 million dollars. He died knowing that he had reached his goal and had raised enough that there was one dollar donated to cancer research for every Canadian.

Answer: 5373 km/3339 miles

Running for approximately 42 kms a day for 143 days in a row would be hard on anyone, and Terry ran with an artificial leg. He also took the time to talk to people, speak at functions or at schools. He was very willing to do anything that would encourage people to get involved. Terry ran through six provinces (Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Quebec and Ontario) through every imaginable type of weather.

He intended to run 8530 kms/5300 miles but only managed to complete 5373 kms/3339 miles before being forced to stop. Terry wanted to start and end the run by dipping his artificial leg in each ocean.

At the start of the run in St. John's Newfoundland, he dipped his leg into the Atlantic, and then took two gallons of ocean water, one gallon he intended to dump into the Pacific at Vancouver Stanley Park when he reached there.

The other gallon he wanted to keep as a souvenir. Terry never reached the Pacific Ocean; he was forced to stop the run on September 1, 1980 in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The Toronto Maple Leaf Team offered to continue his run for him, but Terry refused, still determined that he would himself finish the run when he was in remission again.

Answer: 1982

Traditionally, Canada Post did not honour anyone with a commemorative stamp, unless they had been deceased for at least ten years. Terry was the first person to break this pattern. His image was put on the thirty cents Terry Fox stamp; it was released on April 13th 1982.

The stamp shows Terry during the run, it has his name across the top and Marathon of Hope running down the sides (English on the left side and French on the right.) With the "Prestigious Millennium Collection of Influential and Distinguished Canadians" series, Canada Post again put Terry on a stamp.

This forty-six cent stamp came out on January 17th 2000.

Answer: Isadore Sharp

Isadore Sharp, Chairman and CEO of the Four Seasons Hotel, was personally affected by cancer. His son, Christopher had died from cancer in 1978, so when Mr. Sharp heard about Terry and what he was trying to do he felt it was a worthwhile cause to be a part of. During Terry's run, Sharp donated $10,000 and sent a challenge to other Canadian Corporations to match his donation.
When Sharp learned that Terry was unable to complete the run, and was again hospitalized, he sent a telegram to Terry (and family) saying "You started it. We will not rest until your dream to find a cure for cancer is realized." A fundraising event, with the money raised going to cancer research, an annual run was organized, to be held every September. This run would be in Terry's name, being called the "Terry Fox Run". Sharp provided the sponsors for the run, and became the director of the Terry Fox Run. The first annual Terry Fox Run was held in September 1981, raising almost three and a half million dollars. Since then the run has raised more than 400 million dollars for cancer research. There are over fifty countries participating in the run.
The Terry Fox Run is an annual, non-competitive, no awards, one day run for cancer. The run is the world's largest one day fundraising event.

Answer: 2005

Terry Fox is on the Canadian loonie (one dollar coin.) The Royal Canadian Mint released the coin on March 14th, 2005. Terry is on the front of the coin and Queen Elizabeth 2 is on the reverse side. The coin was engraved by Stan Witten.
The president of the Royal Canadian Mint, David Dingwall, said the loonie was chosen because of Terry's goal, one dollar raised for every Canadian. To further represent Terry's goal, only thirty million Terry Fox dollars were produced because the Canadian population was thirty million - one dollar produced for every Canadian.

Answer: Bobby Orr

In Ontario, Terry got to go to Parliament hill and talk to Prime Minister Trudeau, he showed him how his artificial leg worked, and asked Trudeau to run a half a mile with him (Trudeau refused.) Also in Ontario he got to meet his idol, Bobby Orr. According to his journal (his journal entries were published in Leslie's Scrivener's book: "Terry Fox: His Story") meeting Bobby Orr was his personal highlight of the run. Orr donated $25,000 from his sponsors, Planter's Peanuts to Terry's cause. Terry got to meet Bobby's father, Doug in Parry Sound, Ontario, who gave Terry Bobby's Canadian cup sweater and a picture of Bobby scoring the winning Stanley Cup goal.

Answer: $10 million

On September 9th 1980, only after a couple days of planning, CTV held the Terry Fox telethon to help Terry raise enough money to reach his goal. After stopping the run, the Canadian Cancer Foundation received approximately twelve million dollars in donations in Terry's name, but that still left him short on his twenty three million dollar goal. The telethon aired coast to coast in Canada, and lasted for 5 hours. On average, the Canadian people donated $25,000 per minute during the telethon. Some of the people participating in the telethon were John Denver, Anne Murray, Lee Majors, Elton John, and many more.

At the end of the telethon, ten million dollars had been raised. The British Columbia government and Ontario government each donated a million dollars.

Answer: second

Canadians voted for 6 weeks and cast 1.2 million votes for who they thought should be the greatest Canadian. In November 2004 the list of who Canadian thought was the greatest Canadian came out, Terry Fox was ranked second on that list. Terry was named "Canadian of the Year" in December 1980 by the Canadian press.
In September 1980 Terry became the youngest Companion for the Order of Canada. Governor-General Edward Schreyer travelled to British Columbia to deliver the medal to Terry. He was given the highest award from the American Cancer Society "The Sword of Hope" on November 22, 1980. Also during that year Terry was honoured with the Lou Marsh Trophy for top athletes. His picture is in the Canadian sports Hall of Fame. Terry has received numerous awards and recognitions, he has had roads, schools, a mountain, a park, and more named after him. All he wanted to do was to bring awareness to cancer and to raise money for cancer research. Terry decided to do something about fighting cancer, he set a goal of $23 million and he achieved that. The annual Terry Fox run is held every September.
Terry died on June 28th, 1981, and the whole country mourned, flags across the country were at half mast. On Parliament Hill Prime Minister Trudeau gave a tribute to Terry in the House of Commons saying "It occurs very rarely in the life of a nation that the courageous spirit of one person unites all people in the celebration of his life and in the mourning of his death."
Terry did something that very few have been able to do, he saw something that needed to be done, and he did it, not for fame, not for fortune, but because he could do something. Terry Fox will always be remembered as one of Canada's greatest heroes. He showed a country and the world that one person is capable of doing anything if they are determined, and if they try.

For more information on Terry Fox, the run, or donations please see the Terry Fox Foundation website: http://www.terryfoxrun.org/english/home/default.asp?s=1
Or the book "Terry Fox: His Story" by Leslie Scrivener, it is a very good book and worth reading. All quotes are from this book, although the majority of these quotes (and more) can be found on the website as well.

Thanks for playing quiz, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.