09/21/2026
🏃➡️ In the spring of 1980, Terry Fox began his legendary run in Atlantic Canada. When he started, nobody really knew who he was, but by the time he was leaving The Maritimes, they sure did.
He had turned down corporate sponsorship, including McDonald's, to keep the Marathon of Hope neutral and principled — and running through rural Newfoundland to near-empty roads, he perhaps began to wonder whether that had been a mistake.
Then Port aux Basques turned out. All 10,000 residents of the town came to meet him and handed him $10,000.
Nova Scotia was, from a fundraising standpoint, in Fox’s own words, “rather disappointing.” There were, however, highlights. About 50 students in a Dartmouth vocational school had raised $3000 on their own.
By PEI, he was fighting severe dizzy spells. However, he was cheered by hundreds of Charlottetowners showing up and running alongside him through the streets.
Outside Moncton, his prosthetic leg broke.
"It needed to be taken to Fredericton for repairs," he told the Moncton Times, "and a flyer with the Moncton Flying Club took it up there, waited while it was being repaired and brought it back last night, free."
At a reception that night he told the Moncton crowd: "Each day I do my best, and just keep saying to myself not to give up … No matter what happens, I just have to keep going … I'm going to make it to Vancouver!"
His visit to Saint John turned out to be an organisational mess.
Miscommunication left several organisers believing others had arranged the welcome. Nobody had.
At the last minute, the Mayor went racing around to the city's radio stations to get the word out. Remarkably, it worked. Hundreds of Saint Johners turned up to line the streets and run with him.
Among the crowd was Terry Fox’s 17-year-old brother Darrell joined him in Saint John. He had skipped his own high school graduation to be there.
"I feel that being with Terry," Darrell said, "is one of the greatest things that is going to happen to me in my life."
Fox was already running 29 miles a day, starting at 5am, rain or shine, and in real pain. In Fredericton, he told the Daily Gleaner:
"Some people think I'm crazy. But they don't understand what I've been through … When you see others dying you get a different view about living."
📰 Read the article about the Atlantic Canadian leg of Terry Fox’s Marathon Of Hope here: https://backyardhistory.ca/articles/terry-fox-in-the-maritimes/
