Dear Terry Fox,
On this day you and your legacy is celebrated – not only here in Canada, but worldwide. And for the first time we specifically celebrate you here in our church as well.
Some from our community are continuing your Marathon of Hope as they participate in the local Terry Fox Run. Others are here in church where we have just listened to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Terry. You were a Good Samaritan, and that is the reason why you and your legacy are celebrated in the way it is. You deserve to be cherished. Your example is one to showcase and follow.
At the age of 18 you were diagnosed with cancer. Your leg had to be amputated. Terrible news. Especially because you were an active athlete.
You did yours to get right back up though. Three weeks after the amputation, you were already walking. Things looked somehow bright.
But it was tough on you. You were hospitalized for 16 months as you underwent chemotherapy. And despite it looking bright for you, you witnessed a lot of fellow patients passing from their sickness.
At the same time, you had learned that due to research only 50 percent of the people diagnosed with the disease you had gotten would die from it. Only a few years earlier the statistic of survival would only have been 15 percent.
This leads to a mission taking form within you. Not for your own sake. Regardless of your ending being bright or not, research was needed if future patients had both better odds and treatment. That became clear to you.
So, for the sake of others – for the sake of the future – you decided to somehow gather support.
Reading an article about a marathon completed by a fellow athlete who had also gotten his leg amputated, you came up with the idea of running through Canada.
Little did you know of all that it would require from you, but you were determined and your determination carried you through any pain. After planning and exercising for a year, you embarked upon your “Marathon of Hope” in 1980 – 45 years ago.
Your story is incredible, and it truly shows how you were a Good Samaritan. Little would the money you gathered for research help you, but it would benefit future patients, and that was all that mattered to you.
In the parable about the Good Samaritan, it is surprisingly the Samaritan that helps the beaten-up neighbor. The priest and the Levite both closed their eyes and deliberately passed by.
These two would preach about loving your neighbor and helping those in need every day, but when their words needed to be shown in action, they hide themselves from those fine words.
From a Samaritan on the contrary, little was expected. To be honest, the Jews preferred not to mingle with the Samaritans. The Samaritan knew this, but he cared little.
Not a Jew, but a human being – a neighbor was in need. He would not gain anything out of helping – the Jews would probably still hate him – but love was all that mattered to him, and maybe his good deeds would inspire future good deeds to be done from others.
“Go and do likewise,” Jesus says after he has finished his parable, and you did likewise, Terry. But not only did you do likewise, but you also resemble the Samaritan as you too reached out – not from a profound position, but from a lowered position.
And that simply is amazing and inspirational. You – as with the Samaritan – are great examples of how love and compassion not always derive from people of power or wealth. It can be shared by anyone. Even the sick and alienated.
Often, we might not believe that it is so. We either forget or are discouraged by the terrors of the world. We prefer to sit safely in front of the television instead of doing the good deed of the day.
Many reasons we have for being the priest or the Levite. “Out of hand” probably is the most common excuse now-a-days. Climate change. Drugs. Wars. Terror. It is all “out of hand”. Better leave it to the higher levels to come up with some sort of plan.
That said. On a day like this – in the memory of you, Terry – we come out of our nests and – encouraged by you example – all acts as Good Samaritans. Is it not incredible?
Turns out it is not that hard after all. We just need a little push out of the door. And off we are saving the world. And we are. What we are doing helps.
Due to cancer research, 25 % fewer patients die of cancer today compared to 30 years ago. 25 %. And taken into consideration that almost half of all humans will at one point get cancer, that makes a different.
8.000 kilometers. That was the length of the run you embarked upon. You newer finished it. After running for 143 days leaving 5.373 kilometers behind you had to go into treatment once again.
You passed the following year.
But Terry, we will finish it for you. Or rather, we will run with you, because clearly your run will never be finished. Just as the deeds of the Good Samaritan will always inspire more good deeds in a never-ending circle of rings, your determination and courage, selflessness and sacrifice will do so as well.
Therefore: Thank you. Thank you for being a modern time Good Samaritan. Thank you for inspiring us. And thank you for showing us that helping does not need us to be from a high position. Nor do we need to run as much as you set out to.
If we participate, what seems “out of hand” becomes less “out of hand” to us, and that truly is all that matters in a world where that might be our biggest obstacle for helping our neighbor.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.