The Okanagan Ride for Dad attracted hundreds of leather-clad motorcyclists in the name of prostate cancer and was even carried as far as England thanks to the power of FaceTime.
“I’m driving for him today, he’s a cancer fighter right now,” said Marc Walker of his father. With the commemorative pin that he and his son Patrick will send to his father in England when he travels there next month.
The Walker family was determined to make sure their overseas patriarch could see what the people of Okanagan are doing to help fight prostate cancer.
“He should be here,” said Walker as Patrick turned the phone to show his grandfather the bikes and the crowd that had gathered in his honor. “He would have liked to have been here, he rode his bike himself.”
As the speeches were held to spread support, awareness and a message of brotherhood, Patrick held up his phone for his grandfather to be a part of the event.
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We are a close family, ”continued Marc. “They say (prostate cancer) only affects men. It doesn’t affect everyone. When men develop prostate cancer, it affects the whole family. “
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Sally Walker, Marc’s wife, said the family came out because they ride motorcycles regularly and they wanted to help raise money and raise awareness about the disease.
“Suddenly it became a part of our lives because it happened to people we are friends with,” she said as more and more people in her community were diagnosed.
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Among men in Canada, according to Statistics Canada, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death after lung and colon cancer.
The family honored their patriarch along with the other men in their lives who have had prostate cancer with a message to all the men out there to get routine checkups.
The Okanagan Ride for Dad presented the BC Cancer Foundation with a check for $ 42,855 for prostate cancer research in Okanagan.
Visit the Ridefordad.ca/okanagan website for more information
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