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Sechelt nurse raises $5,000 on 250-km ride

Ride to Conquer Cancer
Cops fo Cancer
Alison Rhodes following the 250-km Ride to Conquer Cancer.

Sechelt nurse Alison Rhodes recently participated in the 250-kilometre Ride to Conquer Cancer, from Vancouver to Seattle, to raise money for the BC Cancer Foundation. On Aug. 26 and 27, she and nearly 2,000 other riders raised a total of $8.4 million. Each participant is asked to raise $2,500. Rhodes raised $5,000.

“I was riding for my late friend Teresa Moase, who passed away after a long battle with breast cancer, on Christmas Eve, 2016,” Rhodes said. “I also had the names of former patients on my helmet as added incentive. Family members [of the former patients] had donated towards this so that I might ride for them.”

Rhodes worked as an oncology nurse for 22 years before her current job at Sechelt Hospital emergency department.

Her husband Stephen volunteered during the ride, overseeing one of the pit stops along the route, which provided food and water for riders. Her daughter Kyra McRae and her partner Harry Girdler also volunteered along the route.

“I am very grateful to my sponsors, Lehigh Hanson of Sechelt, who donated [to the ride] and held fundraisers on my behalf, and Elizabeth Quayle and her fantastic crew at Spin Cycles in Gibsons, who provided me with supplies and technical support,” Rhodes said. “I also had a lot of help from friends and coworkers in fundraising, which I am very appreciative of and a big thank you to everyone who donated.”

Rhodes and her husband have signed up to ride next year and they plan to join other local riders to form Team Sunshine Coast. Rhodes has already started fundraising for next year and said the team will be selling advertising spots on their riding jerseys as a way of fundraising.

Anyone who would like to sponsor the team can do so by contacting Rhodes at teamsunshine2018@gmail.com and donations can also be made online at the Ride to Conquer Cancer website by searching her name.

This year was Rhodes’ first Ride to Conquer Cancer but she said it won’t be her last.

– Coast Reporter