The Canadian Cancer Society Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock comes through the Comox Valley on Sept. 26. This year there are three riders that call this area home: Nicole Emery, Jon De Roo and Andy Quinn. The three have been training since March and April to prepare for the two-week, 1,000 kilometre bike ride.
The three are also currently raising money for the ride. To date, the Tour has raised over $24-million for pediatric cancer research and programs.
To learn more about the ride or to donate, visit www.tourderock.ca.
Nicole Emery
Nicole Emery still doesn’t call herself a cyclist, even though she has been training for the Tour de Rock for months now. She says the training has been tough, but she hopes to inspire people by showing what a two-time cancer survivor can do.
Emery was three years old the first time she was diagnosed with cancer.
As a toddler, she would wake up crying and in pain, but was unable to tell her mother what was wrong. The doctors told Emery’s mom it was nothing and to stop being a paranoid parent, but she didn’t believe it was nothing.
Finally, a doctor diagnosed Emery with neuroblastoma. The tumour was pushing on the roof of Emery’s mouth and her left eye, causing to it to protrude.
“It wasn’t in a place that could be operated on so I had radiation and chemo for about a year and a half and thankfully it worked,” said Emery.
However, that was not the end of Emery’s hospital visits.
“Back then, the radiation was pretty intense, so the whole left side of my face that they radiated, the bones basically stopped growing,” she said. “So as I grew, the left side of my face stayed small and the right side continued to grow.”
When Emery was 11, she began to go in for reconstructive surgeries where surgeons used pieces of her skull to rebuild her face. From that time until she was 18, these surgeries prevented her from doing anything too adventurous in case she bumped her head.
Fast forward to nine years ago, Emery was again diagnosed with cancer, but this time thyroid cancer brought on by the harsh radiation and chemo treatments she underwent as a baby.
Emery went to Victoria for treatments while her husband stayed home and watched the kids. She was put into isolation as a result of the dangerous effects of radiation and couldn’t see her family for two weeks.
“I feel like I’m strong, I keep good care of myself and I just knew I would be ok.”
This is the attitude that Emery takes when she is on her bike, pushing through a particularly grueling training session. But beyond that, she is riding to raise money to research new, less harsh cancer treatments, to give children the chance to have normal childhoods and to give hope to children with cancer and their families.
“This is my sole purpose in doing this, just to give all of those kids and their parents that little inspiration and that hope that their kids will someday be 45 years old and have families and be happy and living a normal life because their time right now is so uncertain and so scary,” said Emery.
“A lot of people, as soon as they hear the word cancer, they think the worst and I want to be that person that gives them hope that the best is still to come.”
Though she says she doesn’t really have any bad memories of her childhood cancer treatments thanks to the support from her family and friends, she says cancer is something that no child should have to battle.
Jon De Roo
Jon De Roo has never battled cancer himself, by like many people, he has felt the effects of the disease first hand.
“My mom is a cancer survivor. I’ve lost uncles and grandparents and other extended family to cancer. It’s just like everyone has their own story of how it’s affected them in their day to day life.”
As a news reporter with 97.3 The Eagle, De Roo took the opportunity to ride in the Tour De Rock as a chance to ride for the people in his life who have been affected, but also as a chance to give back to the community.
The Tour de Rock riders had the opportunity to visit Camp Goodtimes earlier this year and met other families and children with similar stories.
De Roo’s junior rider is attending the camp this summer and he said she is the source of his motivation while he is riding.
He says seeing these kids push past challenges with a smile on their faces puts his own situation into perspective.
“Whatever muscle cramping or discomfort that we have physically going on pales in comparison to a 10-year-old having to go for chemo treatment,” he said. “[They have had] their childhood experiences basically robbed from them because they got cancer.”
He adds that people often say to live every day to the fullest, but he has never seen anyone seize the day quite like his junior rider.
“What she’s experienced and there’s no excuses or complaining, it’s just kind of live every day to the fullest type attitude and it’s extremely refreshing. It’s very obvious that literally on a day-to-day (basis) she is just living life to the fullest with an extremely positive attitude and take on life.”
Andy Quinn
At the beginning of each training session, Andy Quinn cracks a can of Coke to get his sugar and caffeine fix, mounts his bike and hits the road.
“I’m your classic fireman, put your head down and get ‘er done sort of thing,” he said.
Quinn has been volunteering to raise money for childhood cancer for years. He has been a member of the Kiwanis Club for more than 25 years, where he has worked towards raising money to fund new oncologists and to support cancer research.
Quinn is a firefighter with the Courtenay Fire Department, and as he has always liked cycling, Quinn thought the Tour de Rock would be a great way to do something he enjoys while supporting a cause he cares about.
The Tour de Rock team had the opportunity to visit Camp Goodtimes earlier this year and seeing the kids’ positive attitudes enforced the importance of this ride in Quinn’s mind.
Quinn says the team is like a family, and throwing jokes back and forth during a particularly grueling training session makes it easier to keep going.
“I’m always cracking jokes and making comments and strange noises and stuff,” he said. “If a squirrel runs across the road in front of us, I just get distracted. I’m an entertainer that just sort of tries to keep the rest of them in good spirits.”
The most challenging part of the training for Quinn was the day the team rode up Mount Washington.
“I’ve never had charlie horses in my butt muscles before and nobody wanted to massage it for me,” he laughed. “But there’s always a point up that 18 km when your body says ‘what are you doing this for? It’s crazy, I hurt all over and I don’t want to do this anymore.’ And then another rider might come up beside you and next thing you know you’re off and running again.”
He says while the training may be tough, the reason for the ride keeps them all going. He adds that little signs of support and encouragement from drivers passing by is often the little push they need to finish the ride.
jolene.rudisuela@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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