10th annual cancer ride brings out the heroes
Despite the heroic, lifesaving work they do, for physicians at the Walker Family Cancer Centre the real heroes are the patients themselves — as well as their families.
“Heroes aren’t just the Marvel kind,” said the facility’s medical director Dr. Janice Giesbrecht.
“Heroes are our patients and our families who do all of this. That’s what inspires us.”
More than 460 of those heroes gathered at Club Roma, on a chilly Sunday morning to take part in the 10th annual Big Move Cancer Ride – an event that has brought in $3.4-million for the facility located within the Niagara Health System’s St. Catharines hospital site.
Nearly $329,000 was added to the total Sunday during the milestone event, that brought cyclists on rides of 25, 50 and 100 kilometres, primarily through the streets of south St. Catharines and Pelham.
In an interview, Giesbrecht said the funding has allowed the hospital to bring in cutting edge technology to help ensure those local heroes are around for years to come.
For instance, she said the local cancer centre has recently begun using a precision radiation treatment device that is the first of its kind in Canada.
“All of these things have been huge advances in decreasing side effects of radiation and enhancing tumour control,” she said, adding the device was used to treat its first patient in June, after being approved by Health Canada.
“These are really important things.”
And the technology along with the skills of medical professionals who use it are making a difference for people like Stephanie Anthony.
The 38-year-old Thorold woman was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in October 2016, and “life got really strange after that.”
She described the diagnosis as a “surreal” experience, made bearable through the care of medical staff.
“They walked me through the steps and told me how it was going to happen. I asked them to be straight with me and they were, but with hope,” she told hundreds of people who participated in the 10th annual Big Move Cancer Ride, Sunday morning.
Anthony said she was given any information and support she needed, “and because I was able to do this process, No. 1: I beat it, thank god. No. 2: I went from straight boring hair to really cool curls from the chemo.” Although Anthony was ultimately given a clean bill of health by her physicians, she said there far too many others who are facing the same life and death struggle against the disease.
“There have been so many people in my own life that have since been diagnosed with cancer, unfortunately,” Anthony said.
“I had a girlfriend that I have known since I was six years old, be diagnosed just a few months after me. … She was terrified.
“It’s unfortunately just every day,” Anthony said. “Every day, I can talk to someone who has been touched by cancer.”
Cancer has had a huge impact on Gino Marchionda, 85, who has lost far too many loved ones to the disease.
His wife Leona died of lung cancer in 2009 — the same year that the Big Ride event was just beginning.
“I hadn’t ridden a bike in years,” Marchionda said.
It had been so long since he’d been on a bike that the last time he rode one, they didn’t have gears.
He fell about half a dozen times trying to make it along the route during that inaugural event, but he didn’t give up.
And the owner of Manor Cleaners in St. Catharines has returned every year since, bringing in more than $100,000 in the past decade, while also developing a love for cycling.
“I go out three times a week in order to train for this ride. We usually do about 20 or 30 kilometres,” he said. “I’m 85 years old, and I can keep up with riders half my age.”
And he has no plans of stopping.
“I won’t be able to walk, but I’ll still be able to ride,” he said.
Niagara Health Foundation president and CEO Roger Ali said some proceeds from this year’s event will be put towards the purchase of an additional MRI for the facility.
“It brings the community together to support a great cause that’s near and dear to them, because everyone’s been touched by cancer,” AIi said. “It allows us to collectively raise dollars for essentially pieces of equipment.”
Giesbrecht said the facility currently has two MRIs, and desperately needs more to meet demand.
She said hospital staff are “working very hard to be extremely efficient, and provincially we meet all the requirements … but we need that next piece for capacity.”