St. John's, Newfoundland: Terry Fox Monument

It's not an overstatement to call Terry Fox one of Canada's biggest heroes. 

Fox was only about 19 when he had to have one of his legs amputated due to cancer. Terry had been involved in athletics before that, and this wasn't going to stop him. He played wheelchair basketball, playing for three national champion teams. Fox also continued to run with an artificial leg. 

He decided in 1979 to run across Canada in an effort to raise money for cancer research. He wrote several companies looking for donations, but refused any funds that required any conditions such as endorsements. The Ford Motor Company came through with a camper van. 

On April 12, 1980, Fox stepped into the Atlantic Ocean in St. John's, Newfoundland, and began the journey. Progress was a little slow at first, as the weather was typically poor in that part of the world and efforts to obtain publicity didn't go well. In Quebec, there were language problems. Sometimes he was run off the road by drivers. 

But by Ontario, Fox's quest started to catch on. Crowds lined the streets, and he was often part of events when he wasn't running a marathon every day. Terry threw out the first pitch at a Blue Jays game, and stopped to accept a $25,000 check from hockey legend Bobby Orr. 

Alas, his health had shown signs of decline by early September, and Fox asked to go to a hospital near Thunder Bay. Doctors there found the cancer had spread into his lungs. The Marathon of Hope was over. But the fundraising was not. A telethon was staged shortly after the run stopped, and by the following spring more than $23 million had been raised. 

Fox died on June 28, 1981. The honors and salutes have never stopped coming after that. He was a poll as the greatest Canadian of all time, and there have been several other honors over the years. Races are held in his memories across Canada each year, so in that sense his work continues. The total of money raised is well into nine figures. 

And it all started on this spot, more or less. A park was created in St. John's only feet from where Fox first touched the Atlantic. If you are in the Newfoundland city, a stop here is required.