[K-Court]

Terry was from Port Coquitlam; I grew up in Coquitlam, the town next door. He remains a local hero and the run in PoCo still draws far more people than you can imagine.

I had a friend at high school that was diagnosed with the same type of cancer Terry had, had his leg amputated and subsequenly passed away as well. I remember Terry coming to visit Rob in the hospital. Long before taking on his Marathon of Hope, Terry walked the talk, visiting cancer patients in hospitals, caring deeply for those who were afflicted with cancer.

I was at college at the time and remember the profound sadness that we all felt when Terry had to end his run. I remember coming home from my summer job one early summer day in 1981. My Mom was standing by the sink, tears streaming down her face. Terry died that day. I'm not an emotional kind of guy, but I cried that day too. How could you not? The world had lost someone incredibly special.

Terry was a great Canadian, but more than that he was a profoundly great human being. I see guys around here training for 10Ks, half marathons and marathons and know how tough it is on them. It takes so much effort and energy. And then I think about Terry. Running a full marathon on one leg, day in and day out for 143 days in a row. 143 consecutive full marathons. It's nothing short of a miracle.

Thanks, Blair, for bumping this one. We all need to remember Terry and what he did. Through his courage, many lives have been saved. It is said that if Terry were alive today, he would have survived his illness, given the advances in cancer treatment in the last quarter century. Perhaps. Or were those advances due in large part to the effort Terry made? In any case, he rests with the angels. He's a true hero.