Some places in Canada carry stories that feel like part of our collective memory. 
This summer, I brought Bill and my girls to one of them: the Terry Fox Mile 0 Memorial on Water Street in St. John’s, Newfoundland — the place where Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope on April 12, 1980.
It has now been more than 46 years.
Standing there, Ceili actually corrected a memory I’ve carried for decades. I could have sworn I remembered Terry dipping his artificial leg into the Atlantic at Cape Spear, Canada’s most easterly point.
He didn’t.
Terry began at St. John’s Harbour, where he dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic and collected a bottle of ocean water. His plan was to carry it across Canada and pour it into the Pacific when he reached the other side.
Terry began at St. John’s Harbour, where he dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic and collected a bottle of ocean water. His plan was to carry it across Canada and pour it into the Pacific when he reached the other side.
What strikes me today is how quietly one of Canada’s most extraordinary stories began.
There weren’t enormous crowds waiting for Terry in Newfoundland. He had to earn the country’s attention kilometre by kilometre, running the seemingly endless Trans-Canada Highway through hills, wind, rain and some very long stretches where relatively few people knew who he was.
I grew up in Corner Brook, and I remember when that began to change.
I hadn’t really heard much about Terry until he was getting closer to Corner Brook. My dad and his coworkers at the cement plant heard about this young man with one leg running across the province to raise money for cancer research — and they donated.
I’ve thought about that memory many times since.
A group of hardworking Newfoundland plant workers stopped what they were doing and paid attention.
And eventually, a country did.
The Other Mile Marker
This week brought another poignant Terry Fox anniversary.
On September 1, 1980, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres, Terry was forced to stop running just east of Thunder Bay when the cancer had spread to his lungs. On September 2, he was flown home to British Columbia for treatment.
That was 46 years ago this week.
Today, the Terry Fox Scenic Lookout outside Thunder Bay marks the area where his run ended. On September 3, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Canadian musician Bryan Adams both visited the lookout — an interesting reminder of just how deeply Terry’s story remains woven into Canadian life more than four decades later.
What Terry Fox Still Teaches Us About Wellness
We often talk about wellness in terms of exercise, nutrition, spas, meditation and taking better care of ourselves.
But wellness can also be about purpose.
About deciding that something matters enough to take the first step, even when you can’t possibly know how far you’ll get.
Terry’s goal was almost unimaginably ambitious: to run across Canada and raise one dollar from every Canadian for cancer research.
He didn’t make it to the Pacific.
And yet, in every way that mattered, his Marathon of Hope kept going.
More than 46 years later, Terry Fox Runs take place around the world. His story continues to inspire cancer research, fundraising and generations of people who weren’t even born when he took that first step beside St. John’s Harbour.
There was something very special about standing at Mile 0 with Bill and my girls and remembering that enormous things can have very quiet beginnings.
And a legacy that is still running. 
You can see the September 2 remembrance here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BRTQnJZpV/
And the September 3 visit to the Terry Fox Scenic Lookout here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19ZPR4ARyD/
