46 years ago today, a 21-year-old who hao lost his right leg to cancer dipped his artificial lea into the Atlantic Ocean and started running. His plan was to cross an entire country on foot to raise money for cancer research. He ran the equivalent of a full marathon every single day Terrv Fox was from a small town in western Canada. He'd been diagnosed with bone cancer at 18 and had his leg amputated above the knee. While recovering in hospital he saw other patients going through the same thing, many of them children, and got angry at how little funding went toward finding a cure. The night before his surgery someone had qiven him an article about an amputee who completed a marathon. That night he dreamt about running across the country. The dream never left him He trained for 14 months. Some days he ran until his stump was raw and bleeding. On 12 April 1980, he started running from the east coast of Canada with almost no attention Gale-force winds. snowstorms. rain. For weeks, barely anvone showed up and barely any money came in. But he kept going, and by the time he reached central Canada the whole country was watching. People lined the roads. Donations poured in from every province. On 1 September 1980, after 143 davs and 5,373 kilometres, he was forced to stop. The cancer had spread to his lungs. He never finished the run. He died the following June at 22. Before he passed awav, his oriainal qoal of raising one dollar from every person in Canada was met. The fund reached $24.17 million, matching the country's population almost exactly. Since then, annual runs held in his name in dozens of countries have raised over $850 million for cancerresearch. He is still considered the greatest national hero in Canadian history. A mountain was named after him. So were roads, schools, and research centres across the country He once said: "I'm not a dreamer. And I'm not saying this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer