Never Give Up On A Dream

The Song

Never Give Up On A Dream, (Rod Stewart - Tonight I'm Yours, 1981) was written about Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope and recorded by Rod Stewart. The Terry Fox Foundation has been granted permission by Warner Bros. Records to have this song distributed freely.

Who is Terry Fox?

Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.

While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.

After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John's, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.

However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at age 22, (this was exactly 1 year before i was born!).

To date, more than $400 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world..

Source: http://www.terryfoxrun.org/

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NEVER GIVE UP ON A DREAM
(Rod Stewart, Bernie Taupin / Jim Cregan)

If there's doubt and you're cold,
don't you worry what the future holds.
We've gotta have heroes to teach us all
to never give up on a dream.

Claim the road, touch the sun,
no force on earth could stop you run.
When your heart bursts like the sun
never never give up on a dream.

Shadows fall, daylight dies,
freedom never got a place to hide.
Search forever photo finish line
but never give up on your dream.

Crazy notions fill your head,
you gotta break all the records set.
Push yourself until the end
but don't you ever give up on your dream.

Now listen to me
you don't need no restrictions yeah
you can't live on sympathy..
You just need to go the distance,
oh the distance
that's all you need to be free, to be free,
to be free, to be free.

Sing a song for me children
you don't need no restrictions yeah
you can't live on sympathy.
You just need to go the distance,
that's all you need to be free,

Now listen to me!
Inspiring all to never lose,
it'll take a long long time before they fill your shoes
it'll take somebody, somebody, who's lot like you
who never gave up on a dream.
No, you never gave up on a dream
no, you never gave up on a dream.

You never, never, never, never
gave up on a dream..