Terry Fox Foundation

Nell’articolo riguardante la cerimonia d’apertura delle paralimpiadi vi ho parlato a lungo dello spazio dedicato a Terry Fox, il campione canadese morto a soli 23 anni per cancro. I giornalisti di Sky presentando i genitori di Fox hanno parlato della “Terry Fox Foundation”, la fondazione che ha raccolto 500 milioni di dollari che ha come obiettivo uno solo: combattere il cancro.

Ho deciso di scrivere questo post proprio per dare a voi che leggete questo blog di saperne di più circa questa fondazione.

To maintain the vision and principles of Terry Fox while raising money for cancer research through the annual Terry Fox Run, Terry Fox Works initiatives, National School Run Day, as well as via memoriam donations and planned gifts.

Terry Fox was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) in his right leg in 1977 and had his leg amputated 15 cm (six inches) above the knee. While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He called his journey the Marathon of Hope.

Terry’s Marathon of Hope took place in 1980 with the simple objective of informing Canadians of the importance of finding a cure for cancer. With fierce determination, he ran an average of 42 kilometres (26 miles) every day for 143 days. Terry was forced to end his run on September 1, 1980 when the cancer spread to his lungs.

By February 1, 1981, Terry’s dream of raising $1 for every Canadian was realized – the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope fund totaled $24.17 million. Terry died in June 1981.

On May 26, 1988, The Terry Fox Run became a Trust, independent from the Canadian Cancer Society, and received tax-exempt charitable registration as a public foundation. In addition to our signature and long-standing National Terry Fox Run Day in September of each year, The Terry Fox Foundation is proud to include in its events portfolio the National School Run Day and the recently minted National Terry Fox Works Day.

The Terry Fox Foundation is responsible for supporting close to $20 million in discovery based research each year in Canada – all monies raised outside Canada must be distributed to (a) an institute approved by the Foundation and its advisors or (b) remitted to Canada. The Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI) is a recipient of TFF funding for translational research. TFRI is an exciting new initiative whose goal is to translate rapidly today’s best science into better cancer treatment and diagnosis for all Canadians. The Institute will bring scientists and clinicians together across the country into a functionally integrated, geographically dispersed Institute with nodes in several provinces.

The Foundation recognizes the duality of its mandate. Not only does it raise money for research, but it also continues to share the story of Terry Fox. The Terry Fox Foundation strives to maintain the heroic effort and integrity that Terry embodied.

It is a grassroots organization that does not allow the Terry Fox name or likeness to be commercialized or conjoined with other worthy causes.

To date, close to $500 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry’s name.

La fondazione può essere seguita in molti modi: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube oppure grazie al blog ufficiale. I modi per contribuire alla ricerca contro il cancro sono altrettanto tanti: online, email, telefono e altri modi che trovate qui. Al momento, però, sembra che le donazioni possono essere fatte solo dai residenti in Canada o negli Stati Uniti (almeno io ho provato a fare una donazione online cercando di utilizzare la mia postepay ma quando mi faceva scegliere il metodo di pagamento sotto la voce “State” erano presenti solo Canada e Stati Uniti. Nel frattempo, però, per stare vicino alla famiglia mi sono iscritto alla pagina di Facebook e sono diventato un follower della Terry Fox Foundation su twitter.