Terry Fox inducted into citizens hall of fame

Humanitarian, athlete and cancer research activist Terry Fox has been inducted into Winnipeg's citizen hall of fame.

Fox was born in Winnipeg and lived in the city until he was eight years old, when his family moved to British Columbia.

He died in June 1981 at age 22, after inspiring the nation with his Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research in 1980.

His parents, Betty and Rolly Fox, were on hand at the hall of fame induction ceremony in Assiniboine Park Thursday evening.

"He'd be very proud and pleased that the city he was born and raised in for a few years is honouring him this way," said Rolly Fox. "I think he's looking down quite happy right now, yeah."

The ceremony was held just a few hundred metres from the site of the annual Terry Fox run that will take place next month in Winnipeg, as well as cities across the globe.

Rick Preston, who chairs the Winnipeg Realtors' Citizen Hall of Fame selection committee, said Fox is as inspiring to people now, as he was when he made his courageous run.

"He, in a short time, created a movement that 30 years later, is still thriving and growing," Preston said.

As a hall of fame inductee, Terry Fox will have a bronze portraiture sculpted by a local artist and placed on a granite pedestal alongside other inductees in Assiniboine Park.

Marathon of Hope

On April 12, 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, the 20-year-old Fox dipped his right leg in the Atlantic Ocean near St John's, Newfoundland, Canada's easternmost city. He filled two large bottles with ocean water one that he intended to keep one as a souvenir.

The other he planned to pour into the Pacific Ocean upon completing his journey at Victoria, B.C.

Fox hoped to raise $1 for each of Canada's 24 million people. He started with little fanfare but had become a national star by the time he reached Ontario.

He never made it to Victoria.

The spread of his cancer to his lungs forced him to end his quest in September, just outside Thunder Bay, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres.

Fox died a few months later, just shy of his 23rd birthday.

Considered a national hero, he has had many buildings, roads and parks named in his honour across the country. He was also was the youngest person ever named a Companion of the order of Canada.

As Fox was fighting the disease in his last days, he received a telegram from Pope John Paul II, who said he was praying for the young man.

The Marathon of Hope has inspired people to raise $500 million for cancer research in Fox's name since 1981.

That's when the annual Terry Fox Run was held. It is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research, involving millions of participants in over 60 countries.