Dead Heroes

Last week at work, we brought up the least of who was considered to be the greatest Canadian, and on that list was Terry Fox, who, about 28 years ago, began his "Marathon of Hope" - a run across Canada to raise awareness and funds for Cancer research. Terry didn't make it: his run came to a halt near Thunder Bay when his own cancer returned. While Terry began a great thing, and he is a hero. However, I brought up a name that none had ever heard before:

Steve Fonyo.

Remember him? I have found that not many do.

He too lost a leg to cancer, and Terry Fox's heroic doomed effort to run across Canada inspired Steve to complete the run that Terry could not. The first part of his "Marathon for Lives" lived in Terry's shadow, and there were many accusations of being a "copy cat". But Steve perservered, and in doing so, raised 13 million for cancer research. If you look carefully, you can still see a couple of streets named in his honour. But Steve did the unforgivable - he was human and he lived.

Terry and Steve came from very different backgrounds: Terry was well educated, middle class and articulate. Steve came from an immigrant family, neither he nor his family were well educated, articulate speakers. Steve was a young man, certainly ill-equipped to deal with the pressure that came with his short lived fame. His father had a talent for rubbing the people the wrong way, and he was ill-used by some very shady publicists. The cost of Steve's run bankrupted his family, ruined their health and the media, to their eternal shame, slaughtered them: making fun of Steve Fonyo's father's accent, and his attempt to start a business that made perogies. Steve was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1987, however that was bittersweet, as his father died of lung cancer that same year. Steve dropped from sight after that, and began a downward spiral of addiction, depression, trouble with the law and was at times nearly suicidal.


I have been unable to find any mention of any help being offered to the Fonyo Family. Perhaps saddest of all, I have also been unable to locate any record of the Fox Family so much as raising a finger to speak out against this injustice. One would think that they, of all people, could afford to be gracious to someone who honoured their son in his own way. However, it seems that the "Terry Fox Foundation" founded and run by the Fox family, guards Terry's "legacy" very jealously. I wonder whether Terry, if he was 1/2 the person that people hold him to be, would have approved of this.

That Terry Fox accomplished a great thing is not in question. He was an inspiration to many, not only Steve Fonyo, but to others such as Rick Hansen as well. But Terry Fox is frozen forever in time; he will never stumble and fall from the pedestal where he now stands, his humanity will never betray him. I guess that is why our greatest heroes are dead.