Born in Tokyo in 1950, Leslie Scrivener, a faith and ethics reporter for the Toronto Star, was assigned to cover Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope in the spring of 1980. She wrote the official biography soon after Terry Fox died. A movie called The Terry Fox Story, starring Robert Duvall, was also made in 1983.

The night before he had his right leg amputated at age 18 due to cancer in his knee, Port Coquitlam's Terry Fox was given a newspaper article by his high school basketball coach about an amputee who had run in the New York City Marathon. Although his parents, doctors and friends opposed his idea, the following year Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope run to raise money for cancer research, starting in St. John's, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980. He hoped to raise one dollar per Canadian. Escorted by his friend Doug Alward in a camper van, he usually completed his quota of 26 miles per day. Bill Vigar of the Ontario Cancer Society began to organize and events, publicity and sponsorships. Fox's gritty determination, idealism and boyish charm won the hearts of Canadians, all the moreso when doctors discovered cancer had spread to his lungs. Fox was forced to quit his cross-Canada run near Thunder Bay, having covered 3,339 miles after 143 days. By the time he died on June 28, 1981 in New Westminster, he had raised $24.1 million. He was born in Winnipeg on July 28, 1958. The annual Terry Fox Run, the Terry Fox Foundation, Mt. Terry Fox north of Valemont, Terry Fox Senior Secondary School in Port Coquitlam, Terry Fox Junior Secondary School in Calgary and the Terry Fox statue outside BC Place Stadium all commemorate his courage.

Books about Terry Fox include:

Terry Fox: A Pictorial Tribute to the Marathon of Hope (Don Mills, Ontario: General Publishing, 1980) by Jeremy Brown and Gail Harvey. -- pictorial

Terry Fox: His Story (McClelland & Stewart, 1981) by Leslie Scrivener.

The Value of Facing a Challenge: The Story of Terry Fox. (La Jolla, Calif.: Value Communications, 1983) by Ann Donegan and Steve Pileggi. -- children

Un bon exemple de détermination : Terry Fox raconté aux enfants. Saint-Laurent, Quebec: Grolier, 1983) by Jocelyn Smyth. -- children

Terry Fox: Dreams Are Made If People Try (Grolier, 1984) by Meguido and Melanie Zola. -- children

Run (Penguin Canada, 2003) by Eric Walters. -- teens

Terry (Douglas & McIntyre, 2005) by Douglas Coupland. -- partial fundraiser