The Day We Started Paying Attention
From the Other Side
Some of the most memorable moments in life happen in front of us, and we don’t realize they are memorable at the time. Then, nearly 45 years go by, and you are at the local Terry Fox Run, which took place Sunday. Suddenly you realize that you witnessed something big, maybe even historic, but at the time, you just let the moment fly by.
I stood there, watching and cheering with my father and my uncle, as Terry Fox appeared in front of us. We were part of a crowd of 16,725 people. The news of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope had been gathering momentum, and the young man trying to run across the country on a prosthetic leg to raise money for cancer had just become a household name. Within a year, he would become possibly the most significant man in Canadian history.
Had we known that, maybe we would have paid more attention or cheered a little louder.
It was July 1, 1980. We still called it Dominion Day back then.
Terry Fox, who had just entered Ontario at Hawkesbury a few days earlier, was in Ottawa for Dominion Day. As part of his tour, he would perform the ceremonial kick off at the Ottawa Rough Riders pre-season CFL game against Saskatchewan. The stadium was less than half full, which should tell you how we, as Canadians, had not grasped onto the story of Terry Fox yet.
But on that day, July 1, 1980, something happened. Terry Fox became real to us – not just to those of us who were season ticket holders enduring a pre-season football game, but to all Canadians. That day at Lansdowne Park gave him the platform and the national stage to turn his Marathon of Hope into something bigger than it had been in the 12 weeks since he had dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
After being diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) in 1977, Terry was forced to have his right leg amputated six inches above his knee. During his time in hospital, Terry got to see the pain and suffering of other cancer patients first hand, many of them young children. He decided to do something about it. He was determined to raise $1 million for cancer research, and he would do it by running across the country, 42 kilometres a day – the equivalent of a marathon – until he reached the west coast and would dip his foot in the Pacific Ocean. People thought it was impossible, and others laughed at the possibility. But somewhere along the way, he captured the heart of every Canadian. That day at Lansdowne Park was seen as the turning point.
Terry Fox was nervous about the ceremonial kick off that day. He said afterward that he wasn’t sure he could do it. How ironic that a young man running 42 kilometres a day on one leg was nervous about kicking a ball in a half-empty stadium. While the teams warmed up, he went under the stands and practiced a few times. He had an idea that this would be his biggest stage yet on the Marathon of Hope. He didn’t want to embarrass himself.
Before the game, he was introduced. We all clapped politely. Then, the cheering started. Everyone started standing. Even my father and uncle shuffled their mini bar to the side and stood to cheer. I had never seen them give a standing ovation. I figured, for them, the only people worthy of a standing ovation would be J.P. Wiser, Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnoff, or Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Wanton Morrison, commander of the British troops during the Battle of Crysler Farm.
But there they were, cheering for Terry Fox. While I was cheering along with 16,725 football fans who had now become Terry Fox fans, I realized how big this moment was.
“After that standing ovation at the CFL game, I could hardly believe it,” Fox told the media after the game. “It makes me feel people really care about what I’m doing and that it’s all worthwhile.”
Two months later, the Marathon of Hope would end. Terry Fox had to stop his run near Thunder Bay. The cancer had spread to his lungs. On June 28, 1981, nearly a year to the day after that day at Lansdowne Park, Terry Fox would pass away. His goal of raising $1 million has now been reached more than 600 times.
Now, as we approach a half century later, it is still a fresh memory. In 2015, Darrell Fox, Terry’s brother, was at the new TD Place Stadium at Lansdowne Park to perform the kick off as the Redblacks hosted the Saskatchewan Roughriders. It was just before the 35th annual Terry Fox run, which took place Sept. 20, 2015.
I remember watching Terry Fox’s brother and thinking back to that day in 1980. I looked around the stadium and wondered who else was there in the stadium who had also been there in 1980. I stood and cheered. I also stood and cheered for my father and uncle, who are no longer with us. If you get to watch football in Heaven, I know they were watching. I’m guessing they had a private suite booked, on the south side, obviously, and they would be hanging with their buddies Wiser, Smirnoff, and Colonel Morrison.
I wonder if Terry Fox popped his head in to say hi.
