September in Canada is the annual Terry Fox Run. For those Canadians who might not remember all the details and for our American friends, here is the story of Terry Fox. With a bright future ahead of him and a desire to teach highschool phys-ed, Terry Fox was diagnosed with bone cancer in his late teens. A week later his leg was amputated. This remarkable young man came up with a dream... to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. HE trained and trained, always in pain, but full of hope..."Somewhere the hurting must stop...I was determined to take myself to the limit for this cause." (Terry Fox) In April of 1980 his dream "started..." in St. John's Nfld. His quest was labelled, "The Marathon of Hope." Day after day he ran, sometimes from dawn to dusk, and always in pain. He rarely complained apparently, facing the challenges with courage and determination. Things were going well, he gained a lot of media attention, and a lot of money was being raised. People met him at every town, and ran with him, and gave money, and cheered him on. Then outside Thunder Bay, Ontario, after 143 days and 3,339 miles... Terry announced to the nation that the cancer had returned. This time in his lungs. Although he returned to his home in BC, he was sure he would finish the run someday.
While he was receiving treatment, Canadians everywhere began to get involved and raise money for the marathon of hope. By Feb.1981, a total of 24 million dollars had been raised. However, Terry never got to finish his marathon, in June of 1981, he died.
Every year in Canada we honour this courageous and selfless young man, by participating in "
The Terry Fox Run". LUke and Bethy's school does this every year. These pics are of their short run around the school. They were supposed to get pledges and raise money. I'm ashamed to say, that I didn't really think about it until the week before and even then my attempts and encouraging the kids to fund raise or think of ways they could contribute were feeble at best. There is just so much going on in life... there is rarely any time taken to remember, think, pause... reflect... and then decide how to help "change the world..." I sometimes despair of ever really having any of these daily "events" make an impact on my family. We just keep moving forward... at an alarming rate and get caught up in the "daily grind.." I mean homework has to be done, sports have to be attended, friends have to be played with, meal need to be eaten... on and on... Cancer has touched our lives over and over... Andy's mom, our friends, family members, and I know it has touched almost everyone in one way or another. You would think we would be able to at least pause and remember this young man, and how hard he worked, and much he gave, and that it would inspire us to be a little less selfish, a little more caring, a lot more giving. But alas, for us... my children took some of their allowance, we matched it, I showed up to run with them, but that was about it.... Not one student at that school was alive when Terry Fox was running.... it is just isn't real for most of them.
I tell you all of this to say... I hope to do better next year.... to start planning earlier to engage the children in finding ways to raise money. It's ridiculous to just hand them a cheque. What on earth would they learn? There is an excellent scholastic book we purchased called, Terry Fox, A Story of Hope..." I highly reccomend it.
Well, don't know if anyone is really reading these blogs, but I just wanted to pay a little tribute to Terry. His story touches me deeply whenever I pause long enough to read, absorb, and remember. I pray you each have a moment in your day to pause and reflect and then go and "make a difference"...
In September Andy and I travelled to Colorado Springs for a Compassion Board Meeting. The first pic is of a tour of the Garden of the Gods, right before travelling up Pike's Pike. The second is outside Compassion International Headquarters. We really enjoyed our visit. There was so much to see and so many people to meet. We were most impressed with the work we heard Compassion was doing in developing countries all over the world. Their goal is to break the cycle of poverty for the child both materially and in their mind, so they can reach their God given potential. They partner with the local church and have some wonderful projects and amazing stories of children and families breaking the cycle of poverty and extending hope where there was none previously. We are so privileged to be a part of this organization. 
