Running for Your Life: Terry Fox and EJ Scott

Terry Fox is my hero. In Canada, where I’m from, he is a legend. A runner who, to raise money and awareness surrounding the cancer that was killing him, started to run across Canada.

I was a few years older than Terry when he began his trek in St. John’s, Newfoundland, on April 12, 1980, and he kept at it. He wasn’t setting any land speed records (unless you count the category of one-legged male runners because in that league he was peerless). He made it to Thunder Bay, Ontario, 3,340 miles from the starting line on Sept. 1, 1980. He died a month short of his 23rd birthday in 1981. His Marathon of Hope lives on though; the annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over sixty countries and is now the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over $500 million has been raised in his name.

Running isn’t, of course, for everyone, but for some reason marathons like Terry’s have found a place; particularly in our defunded society where few public dollars as a percentage of total tax revenue are being spent toward preventive care and disease fighting.

Take the example of EJ Scott http://bit.ly/H0WVCD  This year (2012) EJ is in the process of running 12 marathons blindfolded http://bit.ly/dCMZFs with the goal of raising $12,000 per marathon, $144,000 overall, in support of medical research into a vicious retinal degenerative disease that he and thousands of other Americans suffer from, a condition that heretofore leads to blindness.

By running in the footsteps of Terry Fox, EJ, whose vision has to date deteriorated to eighty percent of normal, is also a hero to me, a man whose personal act of courage draws attention to a cause the deserves not only our civic but political support. Rather than battle on over ObamaCare, if only our public servants could raise the level of debate so that real reform could take place, so that our tax dollars could be spent on, dare I say it, universal health care. If not that consider this: In 1790, the very first Congress enacted a law requiring shipowners to buy medical insurance for seamen. The law was signed by President George Washington.

As I prepare to run the Boston Marathon next month, I’m inspired by the stories of Terry Fox and EJ Scott. In my case I have written here about my struggles with deep vein thrombosis, and to date, running for me has been a personal, athletic pursuit rather than a cause. If I were in EJ’s running shoes, I’d hope that I’d have the courage to get out there the way that he has. Follow his blog. I know I will.

Next: Running for Your Life: Finally, It’s April