Canada is full of heroes from all walks of life – sports, movies, medicine for example – but few have captured the hearts and souls of Canadians from coast-to-coast, generation after generation, than two British Columbia lads named Terry Fox and Rick Hansen.
Hockey heroes are a dime a dozen in Canada and they come and go with every generation. Few teenagers today probably even know the names Howie Morenz or Maurice Richard and those who do have little knowledge or respect for their abilities. Heck, even Wayne Gretzky is a fading memory for many young hockey fans.
But every year Canadians rally to the names of Terry Fox and Rick Hansen. And as Hansen’s 25th anniversary relay wheels through St. Albert today we’re reminded of why we remember and honour these two men.
It’s not for some great exploit on ice or on the silver screen, where men and women are heroes for all the wrong reasons. A true hero is not someone who gets paid millions of dollars to display their natural talents for others who are willing to pay to watch.
As actor Christopher Reeve said: “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
Few people fit that description better than Fox and Hansen.
Fox had his right leg amputated at age 19 because of bone cancer. Two years later he began his Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada run to raise funds for cancer research. When the cancer returned he had to abandon his run in Thunder Bay, Ont., after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres. He died about a year later at age 22. But his passion lives on through the annual Terry Fox Run.
Three decades after his death thousands of Canadians take to the streets every September to participate in the run and raise funds in his name. To date more than $550 million has been raised in his name worldwide.
“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.
For 143 days Fox did just that, step after painful step. Just as Hansen did in his wheelchair for 26 months a few years later. A car crash left Hansen a paraplegic at age 15. Inspired by Fox, Hansen took his wheelchair on his Man in Motion World Tour that covered 34 countries over 792 days, 40,000 kilometres, 126 flat tires and proved to the world that people with disabilities have tremendous potential.
To date, the Rick Hansen Foundation has raised more than $250 million to fund research into spinal cord injuries. And each year thousands of Canadians and millions around the world remember the man in motion and the example he set for the rest of the world, both able-bodied and disabled.
And today, at age 54, Hansen is as determined as he was on March 21, 1985 when he began his round-the-world tour. In Edmonton this week he told the local media: “It inspires me to challenge communities everywhere to set the bar higher. To create a global community of difference makers, to accelerate progress for inclusion for people with disabilities, to find a cure for people with spinal cord injuries, but also to inspire the next generation of youth to make a difference in this world.”
That’s just what he and Fox have been doing for three decades. Their names will be remembered as true heroes for generations to come.
