On June 22 and 23 in the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer 289 teams will travel 200km in their efforts to end the suffering caused by this disease that affects 2 out of every 5 people. Cyclists will take to the highway on a route from Calgary to Okotoks via Bragg Creek in the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s yearly fundraiser. Last year’s event raised over 8 million dollars.
Calgarian Chad Stronge joins the 5 member Team Redline in his first effort in fundraising of this kind. Through his own experience in looking at the face of cancer from his own diagnosis and that of many family members he is expressing his desire to help others in the fight against the disease.
I had the opportunity to meet the calm and uplifting Stronge at Canyon Meadows Auto Service which he operates and hear of his incredible experience in dealing with the devastation of cancer. For all that he has gone through he still manages to take life in stride.
Stronge watched both his Aunt Arlene and Grandmother Katherine succumb to bone cancer within two years of each other. Stronge’s Aunt Arlene who had survived breast cancer after a double mastectomy suffered from chronic neck pain that was being treated by the use of pain killers. One day the pain became unbearable and she checked into emergency. Incredibly the neck pain was diagnosed as a broken neck caused by an advanced stage of bone cancer that had invaded her spine. She died 2 months later at the age of 49.
The shock of Arlene’s diagnosis had been amplified with Katherine breaking her leg while sitting down for supper only the night before. After that night she would never return to her home, finding out she too had bone cancer. She watched her daughter’s demise from a hospital bed battling the cancer that would eventually take her own life in 2 years time.
Other family members were faced with their own trials with cancer. Stronge’s mother-in-law Marilyn had to deal with bladder cancer and his father-in-law went through multiple skin cancer treatments.
The 35 year old Stronge knows that he is in a high risk group for advanced cancer. After stopping the light therapy that he used for a lifelong psoriasis condition he went through a painful adjustment period which resulted in many growths all over his body. Over time they all disappeared except for one large spot on his right shin.
This was diagnosed as skin cancer and fortunately for Stronge was successfully eradicated in one treatment. For Stronge the life saving advances from research and technology really hit home.
What is also interesting about Stronge is that he was able to alleviate most of the problems causing the painful psoriasis by a change in diet. He did a three week detox under suggestion from a naturopath, addressed dairy and gluten food allergies and ate less processed food. After 23 years of suffering from this condition he saw an immediate decrease of the unsightly, itchy and painful patches of psoriasis.
He still requires some medication in combination with this diet change.
At the weekend event Chad Stronge and his family will celebrate his daughter’s first birthday. It is Stronge’s hopes that his contribution to the campaign will make his daughter’s future cancer free, and will ensure his future in her upbringing. As well he looks at the race as an opportunity for personal growth and to keep cancer research ongoing in the search for a cure.
