The 13th annual Terry Fox Run in Qatar will take place at the College of the North Atlantic - Qatar’s campus on Friday at 9.30am.
This is a family run, walk or bike event open to all ages and abilities. The course is a 2km lap around the CNA-Q campus, offering distances of two, four, six, eight and 10km. Registration is from 8am to 9.30am. There is no minimum donation or registration fee required.
Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada’s west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with bone cancer and forced to have his right leg amputated 15cm above the knee in 1977.
While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. After 18 months and running over 5,000km to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. He ran close to 42km a day through Canada’s Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario. However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373km, Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at the age 22.
Since 1981there are several Terry Fox Runs globally each year. Terry specified that all proceeds raised in his honour must stay in the community where they are raised. Since 2004, The Terry Fox Run in Qatar has raised QR1,000,000 for cancer research in the country.
It is estimated that globally over $650mn has been raised worldwide for cancer research through the annual Terry Fox Run.
