Any family blindsided by a childhood cancer diagnosis is devastated, but those who live on Vancouver Island are often hit extra-hard.
The emotional toll can be compounded by added financial pressures and feelings of isolation as, sometimes, the family is physically torn apart by the need to move the child to another city for treatment.
The Island Kids Cancer Association sees that all the time: an ailing child is helicoptered to a faraway hospital, one parent quits work and moves nearby, the other parent tries to hold down the fort at home. Even when no one has to move, caring for an ailing child can mean income drops, and unexpected expenses while the family is in emotional crisis.
The IKCA tries to ease that burden, and a new, challenging fundraising effort to help the small non-profit organization do so. The End2End cycling relay will see a team of riders pedal from Victoria to Port Hardy and back non-stop, completing the 1,000-kilometre journey in just two days.
“It’s a Vancouver Island-based solution to a Vancouver Island problem,” said End2End chair Andy Dunstan.
It was Dunstan who came up with the idea for the relay, which will see four pairs of cyclists take turns riding a succession of 50-kilometre segments. Each pair will pedal for roughly two hours, rest for six, then climb back in the saddle for another leg of the round-the-clock journey. Each rider will complete 250 kilometres by the time the trip is done. The ride will be held June 17-19 to maximize the hours of daylight.
Dunstan, a retired police officer who now works part-time at the Trek Bicycle Store Victoria, took his idea to store owner Bill Fry, who saw the relay as a good fit for the store family — its employees and customers, many of whom have played a role in other community efforts.
“We have sponsored and been involved in many cycling-related fundraisers over the years, leaving us with a wonderful resource: a group of people with the experience, passion and know-how to pull off an event like End2End,” Fry said.
The fundraiser is good news for the Island Kids Cancer Association, a charity that has supported hundreds of cancer-stricken children and their families on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. The organization offers them programs and services focused on financial support, mental health and countering the isolation often experienced by such families.
“We understand the challenges, know the system and we can help, but as a small non-profit we have limited ability to raise the money we need to fund our programs,” said executive director Susan Kerr.
Kerr, who founded IKCA in 2017, is all too familiar with the struggles of those served by the organization. Her son Jacob was diagnosed with cancer in 2005 and died in 2019.
The goal of End2End is to raise $100,000 for IKCA through a combination of donations to end2endcancer.com and participation in associated fundraisers. The first major donation, $5,000 from the Smart Melanoma Society, will be celebrated at the official announcement of the End2End effort at the Trek bike store on March 18.
The Smart Melanoma Society is named for Dave Smart, a well-respected Victoria Ironman and marathon athlete who died of cancer in 2004. His wife Robin is now heavily invested in the End2End effort.
“We are thrilled to have learned about the great work of IKCA,” she said. “It aligns with our goals to support locally kids and families going through cancer. It was very important to my late husband to give back to the community, so I couldn’t be happier with the new partnership we have forged with IKCA. Susan and her team are doing amazing work to support Island families, and it made sense for us to jump on board.”
