40 years ago, Terry Fox undertook his Marathon of Hope to raise funds for cancer research. Since that time, Canadians have picked up the torch each September in the annual Terry Fox Run. This September 20, mid-pandemic, it will take place as the Terry Fox Virtual Run. To celebrate the 40th anniversary, writer Elizabeth MacLeod and illustrator Mike Deas have created Meet Terry Fox, a dynamic new Scholastic Canada Biography that seeks to inspire young readers with his story of courage and determination.
Nearly all school-age Canadian children are familiar with the broad strokes of this story: Fox’s cancer, the loss of his leg, the unfinished marathon, and his untimely passing. This made it “challenging telling Terry’s story, especially because many kids take part in the Terry Fox run each year, so they know a lot about him.” But MacLeod and editor, Erin O’Connor saw an opportunity to help readers “to see Terry as a real person.” To accomplish this effect, the book, like all the biographies in the series, is built like a graphic novel. A typical page features a sequence of four gorgeous, realistic-yet-cartoony illustrations by Deas. Each is accompanied by a text caption, and “speech balloons” that “really help” to turn icon Terry into human Terry. As one example, MacLeod notes that “we especially wanted to show Terry during his run talking and joking around with his brother and Terry’s friend Doug Allward.”
There’s so much more to Fox’s biography than we know, says MacLeod. As a result, “it was really hard to cram Terry’s story into just 32 pages.” MacLeod focused on “the aspects of Terry’s story that I thought would best tell readers what he was like. I wanted kids to know that he had difficult times, but still found the courage to go on.” This meant, for example, that she included details “about Terry’s early life, when he was just an ordinary kid, so they could understand where he came from and what inspired him.”
MacLeod’s enthusiasm is contagious as she recounts some of what she learned in her research. Her biggest learning is the most profound: “Until I wrote this book, I didn’t know what Terry’s inspiration was for starting the Marathon of Hope. When he was in hospital recovering from having his leg amputated, he saw the courage of the other cancer patients around him, and it moved him to want to do something for them and for others. I think that says a lot about someone who could recognize that strength in the midst of his own suffering.”
MacLeod also learned other, smaller things she had never known. She discovered that “Terry was Métis, which means he had ancestors who were First Nations and European.” She learned the secret origin of his iconic curly hair – which was an unexpected byproduct of chemotherapy. And she discovered the winding road travelled by the iconic Marathon of Hope van between the time when Terry abandoned his run and its current residence in the Museum of Canadian History in Gatineau, Quebec.
In case it isn’t obvious, Macleod absolutely “loved writing about Terry.” Having written several Scholastic Canada Biographies, she draws out a powerful subtext for her young readers: “when these heroes were the same age as the readers, no one knew they’d grow up to change the world. They were ordinary kids who grew up to do extraordinary things.” As young and old alike struggle with the pandemic – and with the complexity, chaos and injustices of our world and the unique challenges of their lives – this message feels both timely and timeless.
“I hope Terry’s story will help kids see their own potential to overcome uncertainty and difficult transitions.”
© Scott Sneddon, SesayArts Magazine, 2020
