In memory of a friend
Aylesford man embarking on snowmobile journey to raise awareness, funds for Heart and Stroke Foundation
The recent loss of a great friend has inspired an Aylesford man to undertake an epic snowmobiling trip to raise funds and awareness.
Ray Savage said his longtime friend John Forbes passed away in September. Forbes thought he was battling COVID-19, but it turned out his symptoms were related to a heart problem that he was unaware of.
Savage, who is originally from Riverview, N.B., said he and Forbes were friends since they were about 13 years old. They snowmobiled together for many years. Savage said that over the last decade, they probably logged well over 10,000 miles together.
“I was just sitting there one night thinking about him, and it popped into my brain that I was going to do this,” Savage said about his upcoming journey.
He said he always wanted to do a longer snowmobile trip, such as the one he has planned, as a “bucket list” item. He tried to talk Forbes into it every year, but his friend was very dedicated to his work and didn’t feel he could get away for a couple of weeks to do it.
Savage said his journey would cover between 1,500 and 2,000 miles between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and take about two weeks.
He said he started kicking the idea around and decided to make it a fundraiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. As of the morning of Feb. 2, Savage had raised $2,600 of his $3,500 goal. He said he was pleasantly surprised to raise so much money before the trek even began, and he may end up increasing his goal.
RAISING AWARENESS
Although the two initiatives go handin-hand, Savage said he really wanted to make the project more of an awareness campaign than a fundraiser.
He plans to stop at the various warming huts, shelters, and clubhouses along the way to distribute information and promote awareness of the seriousness of cardiac events and seeking appropriate medical treatment. Savage has made up some posters and the Heart and Stroke Foundation has provided toques and handouts.
“If it helps one person along the way, it was a journey well made,” Savage said.
He said on Feb. 1 that he planned to start his trek the following week in Debert, heading for Amherst and the New Brunswick border. He had hoped to begin a week earlier but there wasn’t enough snow. Savage is building some flexibility into his plans to account for variables such as weather conditions or mechanical problems.
“I’m going prepared,” he said.
Once in New Brunswick, he plans to snowmobile to Moncton then up to the Miramichi region. He’ll continue to Serpentine Lodge, a place in Southesk Parish where he and Forbes used to visit, then to Fredericton, back to Moncton, and then back to Nova Scotia.
Savage said most of the journey would be solo, but he’ll meet up with a group of friends in the Moncton area, where he and Forbes were from. In the Fredericton area, he’ll be meeting up with a group of Forbes’s co-workers and Forbes’s children.
Savage has reached out to snowmobile clubs and federations to let them know about the journey and to invite other snowmobile enthusiasts to join in for a leg along the way.
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE
John’s son, Alexander Forbes of Halifax, said he thinks Savage is doing the best thing a person can do with the grief of losing someone. He said most people, himself included, tend to focus on what they could have done rather than what they could do now.
When considering the goals of Savage’s campaign, Forbes said he thinks the benefits of raising awareness far outweigh those of raising money at a local or community level. This is especially true when he considers the demographic that will be hearing Savage’s message.
He said his experience has been that middle-aged men in the Maritimes are in dire need of messaging around how to take better care of themselves and what symptoms to watch for.
“There’s a strong tendency amongst men to value stoicism over well-being, and time over health care,” Forbes said.
He said this holds true for his father, who seemed able bodied up until his heart attack. Forbes said he believes stress played a major factor and this is something that most people, not just men, ignore.
He said continued, consistent health messaging is important, especially in “an ever-changing medical landscape.” His father had assumed he was experiencing COVID-related symptoms. Perhaps this was because so much focus was placed on COVID-19 in recent years.
REMEMBERING HIS DAD
Forbes said snowmobiling and most other motorsports were a passion for his father.
“He was a speed demon and was always disappointed when a winter didn’t give much snow,” Forbes said.
He said his dad probably wouldn’t have wanted to be the focus of so much attention, but he would have been very proud of Savage for taking such an initiative. Forbes described Savage as “a good man.”
Forbes said he isn’t much of a snowmobiler himself, but he hopes to catch up with Savage at some point along the trek. He said he’s going to try to get out at least once a winter to snowmobile from now on, not only because it’s very fun, but to remember his dad.
Forbes said was able to get out on the trail with his father and Savage a few years ago in New Brunswick. He said he was “glad to have shown that I could just barely keep up with them.”
“That day is a memory I’ll hold on to tight,” Forbes said.
GO ONLINE
For more information or to donate to the Snowmobiling in Support of Heart and Stroke fundraiser, visit www.heartandstroke.crowdchange. ca/27319/page/63142.