The Terry Fox Story

Terry Fox was 18 years old when he contracted cancer.

The disease started at his right knee and the doctors had to immediately amputate his leg in order to save his life.

This traumatic event was the moment of truth for Terry. Terry found out that the survival rate for cancer patients was very low and the only way to fight it was to find cures through cancer research. Instead of wallowing in self pity and despair, Terry heard his calling. Seeing other patients succumbed to the disease, Terry felt he had to do something for future cancer patients. He was convinced that his calling was to help raise funds for cancer research in order to fight this terrible disease.

From this point, Terry embarked on his Hero’s Journey.

Terry was not particularly athletic but he decided to raise public awareness for cancer research by running across Canada from coast to coast. Terry planned to start his ultra marathon in St. John’s, Newfoundland on the Atlantic coast and finish 8,000 kilometres later in Victoria, British Columbia on the Pacific coast. He would cover the vast distance by painfully hopping and stepping his way through one marathon a day – with an artificial leg! Terry hoped his ordeal would raise $1 each from Canada’s 24 million people. He managed to raise more than $23 million.

On 12 April 1980, Terry dipped his artificial right leg in the Atlantic Ocean and headed west to the Pacific on his Marathon of Hope.

On 1 September 1980, 143 days since he started and 5,373 kilometres into his run, Terry was forced to stop by severe chest pains. He was admitted to hospital and the next day, he tearfully announced that the cancer had spread to his lungs. He vowed to complete his cross country epic but his condition quickly worsened and he died on 28 Jun 1981.

Terry’s inspiring story tells us that any ordinary person can do so much when one finds and is consumed by a worthy purpose.

Terry said: “You don’t have to do what I did – wait until you lose a leg or get some awful disease – before you can take the time to find out what you are made of. Start now.”

We have much more time than Terry had to do something to make a difference.

What will you do to make a difference in others' lives?

United Flight 93 Heroes

On September 11, 2001, Deena Burnett was making breakfast for her three daughters when she received an unexpected call from her husband Tom. It was odd that Tom called at this time as he was on board United Flight 93, flying coast to coast from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco.

What followed were the most horrifying moments of her life.

Tom told Deena that the plane had been hijacked by some men with bombs. The hijackers had taken over the cockpit and had turned the plane towards Washington DC.

By this time, the passengers have already heard about the two hijacked planes that crashed into the twin World Trade Centre towers in New York City and another plane that slammed into the Pentagon. It dawned on them that Flight 93 was part of a grand scheme to crash hijacked airliners into prominent buildings. Knowing that they will be killed, Tom and a group of passengers decided to thwart the hijackers’ plan.

It was their moment of truth.

Tom told Deena: “I know we’re going to die….” And added: “We’re going to do something.”

Another passenger Todd Beamer was heard saying: “LETS ROLL”!

A group of passengers charged the hijackers. In the ensuring struggle, the hijackers were forced to abort their plan to crash the plane in Washington DC and plunged it in an open field in Pennsylvania instead.

Tom and the group of passengers had only minutes between knowing that they were going to die and doing something that would make a difference in others’ lives. And they did.

Many lives were saved that day by the heroic act of the Flight 93 passengers.

As John Maynard Keynes said: “In the long run, we're all dead.”

The passengers of Flight 93 crossed the threshold from their Ordinary Worlds to the Special World of heroes when confronted by death.

Do we need to wait until we face death before we do something about our calling?

We have much more time than Tom and the other Flight 93 passengers had on that fateful day to make a difference.

What will you do to make a difference in others' lives?

Hero's Journey - Crossing the Threshold

The Hero Crosses the Threshold, to leave the Ordinary World and steps into the Special World.

With one foot in the Special World, the Hero is confronted by new sights and sounds, new learnings, surprises, adventures and experiences.

The Hero feels out of place, uncomfortable, inexperienced.

The Hero’s previous thoughts of the Special World are shaken by its realities.

The Hero begins to doubt himself, “What was I thinking to leave my Ordinary World behind?”

We’ve all been in situations like this.

The first obstacles the Hero meets are the Threshold Guardians.

Threshold Guardians are often emotional obstacles. It might be a feeling, a memory, a nightmare or anything that prevents the Hero from moving forward in his Hero’s Journey.

A common form of Threshold Guardian is the naysayer.

Naysayers are often the people closest to us such as our family, spouse, relatives and friends. They may be well meaning but their opinions are based on their own experiences. They do not share the same passion as you have regarding your calling. They are not inspired as you are.

Naysayers remind me of the Crabs in a Bucket Syndrome.

A single crab put in a lidless bucket is bound to climb over the lid and escape. Yet when more than one crab share a bucket, none can get out even when the lidless top and the sky above are an open invitation to freedom.

If one crab tries to elevate himself above all, the others will grab him and drag him down to share the common fate of the rest.

It is this way with crabs, and so it is the same with people. Some find themselves in a family or a circle of friends that will pull them down, if they strive to better themselves.

Don’t let crabs discourage you. Find people outside the bucket whom will pull you up and out.

So how do we deal with naysayers? The best way is to simply ignore them.

Once upon a time, a colony of frogs decided to migrate from their badly polluted pond to another with pristine water and teeming with food.

One summer day, hundreds hopped towards the promised land. The weather was searing hot and sharp stones peppered the hard baked ground.

One frog asked, “Why must the journey be made on such a sizzling day?” Another questioned, “Why choose such a punishing route?” Soon more questions with no easy answers echoed across the colony.

One frog decided to stop. Then another, and another. Soon all the frogs stopped, except one.

The little frog who was neither the fastest, nor strongest, struggled uphill until it arrived at the new pond.

The other frogs watched in amazement. They shouted at him, wanting to know, how only the tiny one got the courage and strength to accomplish the feat.

But the little frog seemed not to hear their loud cheers.

The other frogs then realised that the little frog was deaf!

It could not hear the self defeating doubts that stopped the other frogs from achieving their goal!

Once he Cross the Threshold, the Hero fully enters the Special World.

This is a defining moment in the Hero’s Journey. This is the time for action and the Hero taking 100% responsibility for achieving his goal.