I am honoured to again be riding for Great Cycling Challenge Canada. Many know our family story, but for those who don't know our history, I've left a short overview below. My focus this year is on helping to enhance the community engagement with GCCC riders. I'm excited to be part of planning "Circle The Swale" (previously "The Nowhere Ride") in Saskatoon, bringing riders together, and hopefully giving new corporate sponsors a way to engage with us in the battle against childhood cancer.

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In 2008, my daughter, Katherine, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). Over the next months of treatment, we watched her battle through rounds of chemotherapy with nausea, fatigue, hair and weight loss, and isolation due to her lost immune system. Because of the particulars of her situation, treatment lasted over two and a half years. During that time, she lost three friends, aged seven or younger, to the same disease she was being treated for. She was driven tens of thousands of kilometres to appointments, given tens of thousands of dollars of medication (maybe easier to measure in hundreds??), and proved to her family that swallowing pills is only optional (yes, she chewed all her oral medication). The support of our community, friends and family was vital. The care of our medical team was incredible. Today, she is a college graduate.

My family and I want to stand with the children suffering from cancer as others stood with us in Katherine's battle. Supporting families does matter. Research does change prognosis and treatment. Please join us in making a difference. Together we DO make a difference.