by Eric Walters
Terry himself had previously given permission for a book to be written: Terry Fox, His Story. This wonderful work, written by Leslie Scrivener, is the authorized biography. Published in 1981 and revised in 2000, it is a factual account of Terry’s life, his journey through the Marathon of Hope and the continuation of his legacy through the work of the Terry Fox Foundation.
That book was based completely on the facts. My book, a novel, is a blend of fact and fiction. The characters of Winston and his parents are fictional creations. I hope that through these characters the reader will be able to feel as though he or she has met Terry and shared the journey that was the Marathon of Hope.
In crafting my story I have tried, as much as possible, to take Terry’s words directly from his speeches, writings and the videos recording the Marathon. In many places, however, I have had to craft dialogue—try to think what Terry or Doug might have said. It was incredibly reassuring to have the family provide feedback, and Terry’s brother Darrell, who was a part of the Marathon and is now national director of the Terry Fox Foundation, was especially helpful in this way.
There are two places where I have changed the time frame of events to emphasize part of the true story. The episode Doug describes in which they couldn’t find the marker and Terry ran an additional three miles to make sure he had covered the entire route actually took place two weeks after it does in my story. As well, the headline by Christie Blatchford, “He gave us a dream as big as our country,” was written after Terry had been forced to stop running, and not prior to his speech at the Scarborough Civic Centre. I felt that this was perhaps the best, most descriptive, most powerful line ever written about the Marathon of Hope, and I wanted to include it.
Through my research and my contact with the Fox family and Doug Alward, I have come to an even greater appreciation of Terry and his accomplishments. He was a hero—a man of incredible strength and determination whose legacy and spirit live on through his family and the work of the Foundation.
All of my royalties, along with a contribution from the publisher, go directly to the Terry Fox Foundation. I am honoured to have been able to write Terry’s story, and to have helped, in a small way, to raise funds for ongoing research to find a cure for cancer.
Eric Walters
Toronto, August 2003
TERRY’S LETTER REQUESTING SUPPORT FOR HIS RUN
The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me.
But I soon realized that that would only be half my quest, for as I went through the 16 months of the physically and emotionally draining ordeal of chemotherapy, I was rudely awakened by the feelings that surrounded and coursed through the cancer clinic. There were faces with the brave smiles, and the ones who had given up smiling. There were feelings of hopeful denial, and the feelings of despair. My quest would not be a selfish one. I could not leave knowing these faces and feelings would still exist, even though I would be set free from mine. Somewhere the hurting must stop…and I was determined to take myself to the limit for this cause.
From the beginning the going was extremely difficult, and I was facing chronic ailments foreign to runners with two legs in addition to the common physical strains felt by all dedicated athletes.
But these problems are now behind me, as I have either out-persisted or learned to deal with them. I feel strong not only physically, but more important, emotionally. Soon I will be adding one full mile a week, and coupled with weight training I have been doing, by next April I will be ready to achieve something that for me was once only a distant dream reserved for the world of miracles—to run across Canada to raise money for the fight against cancer.
The running I can do, even if I have to crawl every last mile.
We need your help. The people in cancer clinics all over the world need people who believe in miracles.
I am not a dreamer, and I am not saying that this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer. But I believe in miracles. I have to.
Terry Fox
October 1979