Steve Fonyo dies at the age of 56 (2 Photos)

VANCOUVER — Steve Fonyo, the one-legged runner who followed in the footsteps of Terry Fox, has died in Burnaby, B.C.

He was 56 years old.

Fonyo lost his leg to cancer as a child.

In 1985, at the age of 19, he raised over $13 million for cancer research by completing a run across Canada.

He then became the youngest person ever appointed an officer of the Order of Canada.

Fonyo died after an apparent medical emergency in his Burnaby hotel room on Friday.

His partner Lisa Marie Herbert told CTV News she returned to find him on the floor convulsing.

Paramedics were unable to revive him.

Fonyo was stripped of the Order of Canada in 2009 after he was convicted of several offences including fraud, theft and assault with a weapon.

The decision prompted a public outcry, and he said it was wrong to revoke the honour because he had received it for what he had done in the past.

In 2015, Fonyo spent a month in an induced coma after being severely injured during a home invasion.