Terry Fox (1958-1981) was an active teenager involved in many sports. He was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with bone cancer. His right leg was amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977. While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He called his journey the Marathon of Hope. It was a journey that Canadians never forgot.