Since 2009, the Vancouver chapter of the Ride to Conquer Cancer has raised an impressive $60 million for the BC Cancer Foundation for cancer research. This weekend (Aug. 29-30), those touched by cancer will embark on the ride of their lives for a cause dear to their hearts. Their pledge to raise a minimum of $2,500 each to ride 200km is no easy feat.
Meet Anna Schiffer, mother of two young boys and an SFU chemistry PhD student. Schiffer took on the personal challenge of cycling the Ride to Conquer Cancer this year for her own kids.
“I want to give my two boys the gift of living a life without cancer,”says Schiffer. She has always been passionate about cycling and running, but she says having a reason dear to her heart makes the training and fundraising more fulfilling. Schiffer’s father-in-law won his fight with prostate cancer.
As a busy Mom, “the biking, training and physical preparation is personal time that allows me some time to clear my head. The fundraising and asking people for money part is not easy”.
When you register to ride, every person has the opportunity to choose where the money they raised will go. Schiffer chose childhood cancer research in an effort to support her dream of raising kids in a cancer-free world. Schiffer says the part of the adventure she looks forward to most is meeting the other riders and hearing their stories. She feels her biggest physical challenge this weekend will be endurance. In addition to the ride, Schiffer is cutting off her long curly, blonde hair in advance of the ride in support of Wigs for Kids. “Everyone says its just hair, but for me it’s letting go, my hair is a part of who I am.”
Danielle Buchanan also has a potent personal cancer story. A three-year cervical cancer survivor, her father was not so lucky; prostate cancer took his life. Buchanan is grateful that her father Tom got to see her and her sister Jenna complete the ride before he passed.
“I ride every year and hope to ride every year for the rest of my life,”Buchanan says. Buchanan is the Ride to Conquer Cancer’s Community Engagement Specialist and says she has never seen so many beautiful people in one community unite for a larger than life cause.
Buchanan would like to remind all the ladies out there to never ever miss an annual physical exam.
“It saved my life.
