1 00:00:01,070 --> 00:00:16,489 This is the story of a person I admire. It's someone that not many people have heard of in Spain, but he is considered a true hero in his home country. Can you guess his nationality? Yes, Canada. 2 00:00:16,489 --> 00:00:20,949 Do you know any famous people from Canada? 3 00:00:20,949 --> 00:00:26,109 You probably do, although you may not know that they are indeed from Canada. 4 00:00:26,109 --> 00:00:29,370 This is Celine Dion, a singer. 5 00:00:29,370 --> 00:00:34,170 She is from Quebec, the French-speaking province of Canada. 6 00:00:34,170 --> 00:00:39,009 Justin Bieber, of course, is also from Canada. 7 00:00:39,009 --> 00:00:45,149 Jim Carrey, the world famous actor, is from Canada too. 8 00:00:45,149 --> 00:00:51,890 Even so is Ryan Gosling, the star of the film La La Land along with Emma Stone. 9 00:00:51,890 --> 00:00:54,789 But none of them are the person I admire. 10 00:00:54,789 --> 00:00:58,149 The person I admire is this. 11 00:00:58,149 --> 00:01:02,509 His name is Terry Fox. 12 00:01:02,509 --> 00:01:05,629 So who was Terry Fox? 13 00:01:05,629 --> 00:01:11,549 From the picture you can guess that he was young and he was an athlete, a runner. 14 00:01:11,549 --> 00:01:13,329 Do you like running? 15 00:01:13,329 --> 00:01:18,090 the longest distance that you can run without stopping? 1 kilometer? 5 16 00:01:18,090 --> 00:01:26,709 kilometers? 20 kilometers? I'd like to ask you something. Is it humanly possible to 17 00:01:26,709 --> 00:01:34,269 run 42 kilometers non-stop? Yes, that is the length of the marathon and Terry Fox 18 00:01:34,269 --> 00:01:41,650 was indeed a marathon runner but a very special one. Is it humanly possible to 19 00:01:41,650 --> 00:01:49,629 run a marathon every day for five months? Is it humanly possible to run a marathon 20 00:01:49,629 --> 00:01:56,590 every day for five months on a prosthetic leg? This is precisely what 21 00:01:56,590 --> 00:02:06,790 Terry Fox did. But why? His was a story of courage and this is how it all started. 22 00:02:06,790 --> 00:02:17,360 In 1976, when he was only 18, he was diagnosed with cancer and the doctors had to amputate 23 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:19,460 his right leg. 24 00:02:19,460 --> 00:02:24,819 This was a real shock for Terry but the doctors told him that he was lucky because thanks 25 00:02:24,819 --> 00:02:30,439 to recent research, Terry had more chances to survive cancer. 26 00:02:30,439 --> 00:02:36,199 He had to spend some months doing rehabilitation at the hospital where he met a lot of other 27 00:02:36,199 --> 00:02:42,080 children and teenagers with cancer. Some of them were fighting the disease, but some others 28 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:49,740 had lost all hope. Terry decided that he had to do something. More research was necessary 29 00:02:49,740 --> 00:02:56,020 to give those children hope, and while he was in hospital, he read a newspaper article 30 00:02:56,020 --> 00:03:03,580 about the first person with an amputated leg to finish the New York City Marathon. He realized 31 00:03:03,580 --> 00:03:09,960 then that everything was possible if you tried hard enough and he set up his plan to raise 32 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:16,199 money for cancer research by running what he called the marathon of hope. 33 00:03:16,199 --> 00:03:23,319 So he started training and after one year he entered his first long distance competition. 34 00:03:23,319 --> 00:03:28,000 Although he finished in last place he knew he was ready to tell his family about his 35 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:29,979 plan. 36 00:03:29,979 --> 00:03:37,180 He told his parents that he wanted to raise $1 from every Canadian for cancer research. 37 00:03:37,180 --> 00:03:43,900 In 1980, the population of Canada was 24 million, so that was his goal. 38 00:03:43,900 --> 00:03:47,759 His mom asked him, so where do you plan to run? 39 00:03:47,759 --> 00:03:51,199 And Terry answered, across Canada. 40 00:03:51,199 --> 00:03:53,680 What do you mean across Canada? 41 00:03:53,680 --> 00:04:00,180 You probably know that Canada is the second largest country in the world, it's huge. 42 00:04:00,180 --> 00:04:06,060 So his mom asked him, you mean from Toronto to Vancouver? 43 00:04:06,060 --> 00:04:14,060 No, Terry replied, from St. John's, the easternmost point in Canada, all the way to the Pacific 44 00:04:14,060 --> 00:04:24,500 Ocean all across Canada a distance of around 8,500 kilometers to give you an 45 00:04:24,500 --> 00:04:33,660 idea that's the distance from Madrid to Pakistan so his mom asked him but how do 46 00:04:33,660 --> 00:04:39,819 you plan to do this on your own and Terry replied oh no I won't be alone my 47 00:04:39,819 --> 00:04:43,819 younger brother and my best friend are coming with me they're going to be 48 00:04:43,819 --> 00:04:49,459 driving a van where we will all sleep at night. When Terry asked different 49 00:04:49,459 --> 00:04:55,160 companies for donations for his project, Ford donated the van and Adidas donated 50 00:04:55,160 --> 00:05:03,439 the pairs of shoes. So in April 1980 Terry started his marathon of hope. This 51 00:05:03,439 --> 00:05:09,680 was his daily routine. He used to wake up at 4 and start running. He completed a 52 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:18,050 half marathon and then he took a break. Later in the afternoon, he ran the rest of the distance. 53 00:05:18,050 --> 00:05:23,589 At first, not many people knew about Terry's marathon of hope and he was very frustrated 54 00:05:23,589 --> 00:05:28,949 that they were getting very little money. When they were in Quebec, they even had problems 55 00:05:28,949 --> 00:05:34,449 to communicate with the locals because they couldn't speak French. However, little by 56 00:05:34,449 --> 00:05:40,990 little he became more and more popular. The owner of the Four Seasons Hotel chain was 57 00:05:40,990 --> 00:05:48,009 touched by Terry's initiative because she had lost her son to cancer the year before. 58 00:05:48,009 --> 00:05:54,149 She promised to donate money for every kilometer he ran and persuaded a thousand other companies 59 00:05:54,149 --> 00:06:02,730 to do the same. Soon, Terry became a celebrity, giving speeches in public places. Remember 60 00:06:02,730 --> 00:06:10,610 that it was 1980 and there was no Facebook, no Instagram, no YouTube, no social media 61 00:06:10,610 --> 00:06:17,069 whatsoever. It was a lot more difficult to get publicity back then. 62 00:06:17,069 --> 00:06:28,509 Unfortunately on the 1st of September, after 143 days and 5400 km, Terry felt ill. He tried 63 00:06:28,509 --> 00:06:34,329 to run but he found it difficult to breathe. He realised he couldn't go on anymore and 64 00:06:34,329 --> 00:06:41,269 asked his friend to take him to hospital. It turned out that his cancer was back, this 65 00:06:41,269 --> 00:06:47,910 time in his lungs. Although he received treatment to stop the cancer, he finally passed away 66 00:06:47,910 --> 00:06:55,529 almost a year later. His funeral was broadcast on national television. 67 00:06:55,529 --> 00:07:02,350 Terry Fox was a true hero for the Canadians who have named 15 streets, 14 schools and 68 00:07:02,350 --> 00:07:05,610 even a mound after him. 69 00:07:05,610 --> 00:07:10,470 People organised charity marathons of hope to raise money for cancer research not only 70 00:07:10,470 --> 00:07:17,129 in Canada but also around the world in places like Cuba, Italy or Croatia. 71 00:07:17,129 --> 00:07:21,709 Now what was the most amazing thing about Terry's story? 72 00:07:21,709 --> 00:07:26,350 Was it that he ran so many kilometers? 73 00:07:26,350 --> 00:07:28,629 Or that he raised so much money? 74 00:07:28,629 --> 00:07:34,730 Well, the most amazing thing was probably that he even tried to do it.