Friends raise money for cancer

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

For the past three years, Strathmore-raised friends Katrina Janzen and Joanne Hermanson donated their time and got involved with one big fundraising effort, to raise money for various charity groups. As both women were affected by cancer through family members and friends undergoing treatment, they will brace a 200 km bike ride and push their bodies to their limits to help raise money for the ongoing battle against Cancer.
With the 2015 Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer quickly approaching in a week’s time, Janzen and Hermanson were tasked with raising a minimum of $2,500 before embarking on the two-day cycling event.
Janzen, who already raised $3,200, started training on a wind-trainer, a stationary bike, in August, shortly after signing up to take part in the event. While participating in charity events is becoming the norm for Janzen and Hermanson, who have raised money for the Children’s Wish Foundation and a Poker Rally in the past, the decision to raise money to fight cancer was personal.
Janzen’s father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in early 2014, and after surgery failed to remove all of it, required hormone therapy and radiation therapy– a six-week intensive trial.
“Trials like that can’t keep going if fundraising and the Ride to Conquer Cancer don’t happen,” said Janzen.
“When dad got diagnosed I thought I had to try and do something more. We’ve all been affected by it and we all know the outcome of cancer if nobody does anything about it or no research is being done. The biggest thing is, yes, we’ve all been affected by it. I can’t name one person that doesn’t know somebody or isn’t directly related to somebody who has passed away or fought cancer.”
In speaking with friends, family, co-workers, and a sponsorship from the Fun Country Riding Club – of which Janzen is a director, she was able to surpass the minimum fundraising requirement. Hermanson, on the other hand, raised $480 and continues to look for donations to sponsor her bike ride.
“Together we do some sort of thing every year, and knowing that there’s a few more people in my life that are affected, we thought we’d do something totally different and the bike ride came into play,” said Hermanson. “When you think closely about it, somehow, in some way, it’s there, in family, or friends. So I really have to get going on fundraising.”
According to CauseForce, an agency that helps non-profit organizations raise money, the ride raised $7.9 million last year and included 1,768 participants. The funds that accumulated through donations during 2014 event fuelled trial and research programs: clinical trials, the Tomorrow Project, and Alberta Cancer Research Biorepository. The ride has raised $46 million since 2009, with funds allocated to cancer prevention and screening, enhanced care and research across Alberta.
“At the Alberta Cancer Foundation, enhancing the lives of patients and their families is at the core of everything we do,” said Myka Osinchuk, CEO of the Alberta Cancer Foundation. “The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer allows the Alberta Cancer Foundation to accelerate progress by driving investment in research, prevention, screening and enhancing care at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Cross Cancer Institute, and 15 other cancer centres across the province.”
The ride will begin at Canada Olympic Park, move west into Bragg Creek and finish the day in Okotoks for a total distance of nearly 120 km. The bikers are then making the same trip back the following day. Janzen and Hermanson completed an 85-km long training ride last weekend.
The 2015 Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer will take place August 8-9. To sponsor Joanne Hermanson you can find her page on the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer website by visiting www.conquercancer.ca.