Customer Reviews

Terry Fox: A Story of Hope

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Few, if any Canadians, have never heard of Terry Fox, the young cancer-fighting man who ran across Eastern Canada in his Marathon of Hope to raise funds for children suffering from cancer. (I remember watching him on TV when I was a kid.) The most amazing part was that he ran with a leg prosthesis since his right leg was amputated shortly after he was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 18. Painful and arduous, but with determination and courage Terry ran an average of 26 miles a day (the equivalent of a marathon) for 143 days until one morning he woke up and couldn't do it anymore. The cancer had reached his lungs. He died one month short of his 23rd birthday.

It's impossible to read this book without being moved and feeling a surge of admiration for Terry. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Terry's Marathon of Hope. This book, initially published in 2005 is now republished with a slightly different front cover and additional information such as when his memory was honoured at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Terry Fox: A Story of Hope is the perfect biography for kids as it's filled with photos of Terry's childhood and subsequent quest. Every school library should have a copy. Reading it allowed us to discuss cancer, leg amputation (my 6 year-old son wanted all the details!) and what determination and hope can accomplish. Now, when they participate in the Terry Fox Walk or Run at school (most Canadian schools do it in September) they will know that they are carrying on Terry's dream and fulfilling his words: 'Even if I don't finish, we need others to continue. It's got to keep going without me.'

Maxine Trottier is donating royalties from this book to the Terry Fox Foundation. Scholastic Canada is matching that donation. For more information on the Terry Fox Run visit [...]

I am the same age as Terry Fox would have been today, and recently lost my mother to cancer, so it only seemed right that I buy this book. What a gift to share with your own child!!... a story of a boy, growing up normally, driven to be the best athlete he could be. Then suddenly, he is dealt a blow as a young adult, and loses his leg to bone cancer. But does that stop him? Heck no!...He decides to train his body to run a marathon a day, all the way across Canada, so that someday, someone would find a cure for cancer. This is one of the most important and moving stories of determination in the face of adversity that there has ever been. Terry Fox is a true Canadian hero, legend, role-model, and most of all, human, who believed that anything is possible, if you try hard enough, and want it bad enough. Buy it!!!!!....and oh yes, the back of the book states that all royalties go to the Terry Fox Foundation.

Reason for Reading: It's been a long time since I read anything about Terry Fox and with the 30th anniversary of his run coming up, I previewed this and will read it to my son for our history curriculum this year.

Terry Fox is a Canadian hero. There is no Canadian school child who does not know who Terry was and the legend he has left behind. Every September all over the country Marathon's are held in his name, The Marathon of Hope, to raise money for cancer research. Terry was a young man who lost his leg to bone cancer and decided to jog across the country to raise money and awareness for cancer in the early '80's. Unfortunately, after starting in the east he made it just as far as Thunderbay, Ontario before the cancer returned, to his lungs this time. Terry's whole life with cancer was one of hope, determination, and a fighting will to live that he never gave up on but the time came when even he realized he was dying and he rallied forth that the awareness he had created must continue on without him. Before Terry died he knew that a yearly Marathon would continue on in his name.

This is a very well written non-fiction book. The text is narrative and interesting in style as well as emotional. It's tough to read the beginning learning about the happy, athletically driven child and teenager he was when one knows the tragic end of his life. But it is also inspiring to today's generation of children to have this kind of young Canadian hero to look up to. The book can't help but be emotional as it is an emotional story but also uplifting. This 30th anniversary edition has 7 additional pages with extra photographs added to update the information on Fox's legacy up to and including the 2010 Olympics where his parents were torchbearers.