Top cancer fundraiser gives her prize to leukemia patient

Meghan Ferguson isn’t planning to cycle 5,000 kilometres for her health.

In fact, the trip from Vancouver to Austin, Texas, stands to benefit total strangers who are battling cancer.

Ms. Ferguson bought her first road bike in April and, six months later, is on the verge of pedalling it on an epic journey, having raised $15,000 for cancer.

“This ride kind of inspires people that they can pick up and do something like this. Everyone told me I was crazy and they were like, ‘What are you thinking? You haven’t owned a bike in 10 years,’ ” said Ms. Ferguson, 30, a genetics counsellor at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.

“But at the same time, I was like, I’m leaving in three days, yes, I’m going to be faced with mountains that are a gazillion feet up in the air, sure, but I’ll survive them. Every day on my bike, no matter how much pain I’m in, it will be nothing compared to one hour of chemotherapy.”

Ms. Ferguson is one of 40 people riding for Give to Live, a Halifax charity that is one of the groups and individuals that will be among the 3,000 to 5,000 people from across North America heading to the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s LiveStrong Challenge weekend in Austin at the end of October.

Ms. Ferguson was the top fundraiser in her charity and was awarded the yellow jersey incentive package, named for the colour worn by the leader in the Tour de France. She won a luncheon and bike ride with Mr. Armstrong, a seven-time winner of that race and a cancer survivor, but she decided to give that opportunity to 14-year-old Peter Gatti from Toronto.

“He’s in his second year of about a three-year treatment program for leukemia and he’s well enough that he can participate to some degree. If he’s coming all this way, I know he’s going to be super pumped to ride on the Sunday and just to be there with everything,” said Ms. Ferguson.

“His life has been difficult so far and if I could give that to him, then I am more excited to meet this little kid than Lance Armstrong.”

Ms. Ferguson has also been touched by the cause she is now fighting for. Her father died from pancreatic cancer three years ago, a loss that she has a hard time talking about and that still affects her deeply.

“I can only equate it to saying my life ended the day he was diagnosed,” she said.

“For me personally, it (is) a way to come full circle and to help that healing process. I feel strongly that if you’re going to go through something that tragic, you have to do something to raise awareness and to give back.”

The Vancouver-to-Austin trek will benefit four charities: the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society, Ovarian Cancer Canada and Craig’s Cause for Pancreatic Cancer.

“I respect a lot that Give to Live is really a grassroots foundation and they give everything they can back. The overhead is so minimal,” said Ms. Ferguson, comparing it to larger charities than tend to have more administrative costs.

To raise money, Ms. Ferguson was supported by Moksha Yoga in Halifax, which gave her a month’s worth of weekly donations. The Brooklyn Warehouse restaurant hosted an event called Locavore and had local farms, breweries and wineries donate. And her colleagues at the Maritime medical genetics service helped out by holding bake sales and other small fundraisers.

During the trip to Texas, Ms. Ferguson and her teammates will ride 100 kilometres a day in groups of five in a relay that will last 11 days.

Although Ms. Ferguson started training with what she called short 20-kilometre rides, she has been on her bike all summer. She said she gave up social engagements and other sports activities to train, but it was an easy choice.

“It’s been such a life-changing experience already. And all those things that (people) talk about, like how altruism is good for your health, I think anyone doing this would tell you that it is,” said Ms. Ferguson.

“Everything about it just makes you feel like you’re being the change that you want to see in the world.”

( tmawji@herald.ca)