Halifax Resident Finishes Cross-Canada Run, Raises Over $220,000 to Combat Heart Disease
A Halifax man has raised more than $220,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation after completing a 99-day, coast-to-coast marathon across Canada inspired by his personal hero Terry Fox.
Ryan Keeping arrived in Victoria, B.C., on July 7, finishing a more than three-month cross-country journey that saw the 27-year-old run 75 kilometres each day, often wearing a Terry Fox shirt with a Canada flag as a cape.
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page to raise $229,392 as of July 8, far exceeding his original goal of $100,000.
Eighty percent of the funds raised will be donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada to be used for “improving diagnosis, care, and support for patients with heart disease,” while the remaining 20 percent will be used to cover his expenses, the page says.
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after completing his run. “He was always my hero through my life, I’m happy to live out his and my dream of running across Canada.”
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before beginning
his ‘Marathon of Hope’ run across Canada to raise funds for cancer, a disease that resulted in the amputation of his right leg when he was just 18.
He took with him water he collected from the Atlantic Ocean with the plan of dumping that water into the Pacific Ocean at the end of his planned journey. That day never came, however.
His journey ended near Thunder Bay, Ont., when cancer invaded his lungs, making it impossible for him to continue.
“People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do,” he said in his June 13 birthdaymessage posted to social media. “Chase down your passions. Chase down your dreams. Keep flipping the switch.”
