Many of you reading this will have had or at least known of a family member, friend or relative that has fought cancer. Some may be still fighting, some may already be gone.
I am just like you; I lost both my parents from cancer. With my dad I was very young so I only have a few images in my memory. Like how fast his body deteriorated, how inexorably we were loosing him and of course the afternoon he died.
With my mother was different; she went through different treatments for more than 10 years. Many of those years I was away in another country or city, so I used to call her and she shared with me all her tribulations. Like how many times the nurse had to stick the needle in to find the vein to administer the chemo, or the nausea lasting a couple of days after it, among many others.
I always thought and still do, that she was amazingly brave, much more than I could ever possibly be.
With the years I have learned what a complex disease cancer is, and we all hear now and then new discoveries, new drugs, new treatments that give us a little hope that eventually things will be better.
I grew up in a country where the culture of donation and community service only happens in extreme conditions, much different from the place where I live now. I have received several times request from friends to donate for different causes, and my family and I have subscribed to monthly donations to a couple of institutions we feel are very close to our interest and believes.
But this time was my turn to actually do something, so following the example of my colleague Dan Robinson I joined his team of cyclists and prepared for the Ride to Conquer Cancer in BC.
The idea is pretty simple, each cyclist commits to raise a minimum of $2,500 CAD and one weekend pedal 200km to raise awareness and remember those that are no longer among us because of cancer.
Initially I was afraid that I was not going to be able to raise so much money, and my fears were proved correct, but my wonderful teammates stepped in and helped me.
So this last weekend of the 25th and 26th of August we rode together.
The starting line was in Cloverdale and the ending in Hope with one night stop at Chilliwack. But due to the forest fires the second day was changed to a circuit along the beautiful farm fields of Chilliwack.
The event is very well organized, they have quite a long experience, this was the 10th edition of the ride in British Columbia. More than 2,500 cyclists managed to raise 10.6 million CAD this year alone, in all ten years they have raised more than 96 million!
The first day started under a cloudy sky with a ceremony full of emotion and tears by remembering the stories of some brave children, men and women lost in the fight against cancer and that prompted the creation of the teams of cyclists.
The rain appeared quite early so I am sorry to say that I don’t have pictures of the amazing route. Every time I discover a new place I better understand and confirm the reason behind the province’s motto: Beautiful British Columbia.
Every 25km we had a pit stop where dozens of volunteers spoiled us with cheers, food, drinks and medical attention.
The day went by mostly along the border with the US heading east, and going through enormous fields of corn or cattle farms.
In almost five hours we finished the 112km of the first day and arrived to our camping ground: the Chilliwack Heritage Park. As all the rest of the event, everything was perfectly organized. We had space to park our bicycles, our bags that were dropped in a truck at Cloverdale were already there perfectly organized, we had showers and tents waiting for us too.
So after cleaning and drying we enjoyed a well-deserved dinner and listened to other’s stories, all of them so heartbreaking but at the same time so inspiring and hopeful.
It was clearer than ever the relevance of what we were doing. A disease that was untreatable ten years ago, today may have a drug or treatment that can extend the life of a person for many years. Thanks to people like the ones riding that day, scientist had the resources to find the drugs that kept my mom with us for ten, difficult, yet precious years.
The second day started similarly, cloudy and just as before the rain didn’t take much time to arrive, but this time with more intensity. At km 50 I was starting to feel some serious pain in my right knee, and the expected sore legs were not as big of an issue as I thought it might be.
Among the cyclist there are cancer survivors, which are identified by yellow flags attached to their bikes. My team captain, wisely, while training told me: when you feel that the pain is too much, just look around, find a yellow flag, watch them go and then keep pedaling.
So I did, and I was, once again, humbled by the resiliency of the human body and spirit.
My wonderful team, without the need of much direction, assembled a few kilometers before the ending line and we rode together to cross the finish line with our survivors at front.
The day ended with another well-deserved meal, many smiles and hugs and a promise of another ride next year, because this is a fight that has not ended yet, and we should keep pedaling.
It is very hard to hear stories of the people that are gone, one more heartbreaking than the previous one; some so unfair that challenges any concept of believe in a higher power or for some that brutally explains the ruthlessness of life. But what I have learned from my mother and this ride is that death is what gives life meaning, that if we are at every moment conscious of our ephemeral presence on this rock we call home, not to maintain a continuous state of depression or anxiety, but to raise our understating of how precious every second is, then becomes so clear that being angry, jealous or simply mean to each other is such a waste of time; time that we could use to contemplate the graciousness of life, or if your prefer something less metaphorical, give a great hug to a loved one or at least say something nice to a strange person and see them smile.
If you don’t know or have never known anyone with cancer it may be a bit more difficult to understand and appreciate what I just said. My recommendation is to join us in one of our rides, I guarantee you, it will be enlightening. You will end up probably soaking wet and surely very tired, but with a renewed soul.
