James McLellan knows it firsthand.
Money donated for cancer research actually does save lives and can lead to a cure for the disease.
As a medical dosimetrist for the BC Cancer Centre for the North, it’s McLennan’s job to develop radiotherapy treatment plans for cancer patients and utilize some of the most advanced equipment and ground-breaking techniques to deliver precise doses of radiation that kill cancer cells.
“When I started back in 1986, if we were treating prostate cancer we’d treat you from your belly button right down to air, just so we didn’t miss anything,” said McLellan. “Now, we treat your prostate with about a millimetre of margin around it and not affect anything else. We used to give a moderate dose to a big area because we didn’t have the precision, but now that we have this precision we can shoot around the spinal cord and take out the tumour with immense doses of radiation therapy, so it’s totally changed the landscape.”
The precise high-dose radiation technique being pioneered by Prince George oncologist Rob Olson as part of an international research team has proved effective in extending the lifespan of patients with metastatic cancer which has spread from the original tumour to other parts of the body.
“We’ve changed the landscape so much, these patents coming in with palliative diagnosis, now we’re able to cure people with metastatic disease because of this ability to be precise,” said McLellan. “Rob Olson is actually going to other countries now and teaching the world how to use it, and it started here. The lion’s share of the technology has been developed here in Prince George.”
A former cancer patient himself, McLennan was living in Saudi Arabia when he was diagnosed 10 years ago with colon cancer that spread to his liver and lymphatic system, requiring extensive surgeries and treatments. That precise delivery method for radiation now being used on patents in Prince George was still years away from development. The treatments he received destroyed healthy tissue but kept him alive. Given a six per cent chance of survival, he has beaten those odds and has been free of cancer and at 57 he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
McLellan had his wheels in motion Saturday along with 44 other local riders on the road to Purden Mountain and covered 110 kilometres in the Tour de Cure, a provincewide fundraising ride to benefit the BC Cancer Foundation. He moved from Ottawa to Prince George six years ago to fill a position at the cancer clinic and it was his fifth year wearing the Warriors’ black and white jersey in the ride.
“This is about me giving back because, man, I was saved,” said McLellan. “I’m sure it cost half a million dollars to save my life.”
Karin Piche, McLennan’s riding partner, started the Wheelin’ Warriors in 2013 and one of the original riders from that inaugural year was Sandra Campbell Fjellstrom. She was the last to sign up for the ride, then known as the BC Ride to Conquer Cancer, and remained a driving force in the effort every year, sponsoring other riders who were having trouble meeting the $2,500 minimum fundraising requirement. She would have been there Saturday to cheer on the riders but died Thursday evening of colon cancer at age 51.
“She was one of the original 33, and she was actually the 33rd,” said Piche, who attached a photo of Fjellstrom to her handlebars for the ride. “She came to one of the galas and she loved what we were doing and signed up at the gala.
“She was diagnosed just before COVID. She was strong and athletic, but cancer can strike anybody. Whether you’re healthy or not, it’s really indiscriminate. She had been battling it courageously throughout the whole COVID thing and was getting chemotherapy and all that done.
“She was definitely our cheerleader,” she said. “She came out to all the galas and supported us. We’re riding for people like Sandra to change the outcome of that story. Even in the nine years I’ve been doing it, I have seen changes in technology, treatments. We’ve got cutting-edge research happening in B.C. and it’s being used worldwide.”
The Wheelin’ Warriors have raised $175,112 over the past two years for this year’s ride and all of that money will stay in Prince George to be used locally for research and for the patient comfort fund.. In their nine rides, the Warriors have raised more nearly $1.2 million. The team will continue to accept donations until Sept. 13 through the website www.tourdecure.ca.
The Warriors’ gala fundraiser, which in 2019 raised $69,000, was cancelled this and last year. As a result, this year’s total is down from about $200,000 in 2019, when the Ride to Conquer Cancer was in its usual pre-pandemic format, a two-day 200 km ride from Vancouver to Hope.
The ride was cancelled because of COVID in 2020 and this year, due to uncertainty because of the virus, all teams in the province held their rides locally. Riders in Prince George had their choice of three distances, 50, 100 or 160 km. The out-and-back route to and from Pineview school gave riders the opportunity to turn around at any point on the course. Some of the Warriors completed their ride in other parts of the country.
“It was amazing, I couldn’t think of a better group to participate with, the Wheelin’ Warriors are so inspiring,” said Elissa Morrissette, associate vice-president of the BC Cancer Foundation, who made the trip from Vancouver to pedal the course on Saturday. “Especially after the last year-and-a-half when people couldn’t gather and so many things were cancelled, it was just wonderful to be able to set off together today.
“You have patients won are undergoing treatment, survivors, BC Cancer Centre staff and supporters all taking part in this event and that makes it magical.”
Ron Gallo went the full distance, equivalent to 100 miles, and it wasn’t easy going. The ride to Purden has its share of hills and despite near-ideal temperatures in the mid- to high-teens, the weather Saturday wasn’t exactly perfect for bike riding.
“The wind took a little bit out of us, actually,” said Gallo. “It was a headwind going out and at 11 o’clock the wind changed and it was a headwind coming back. I was so looking forward to having that at my back coming back.
“But at the end of the day we’re fortunate we get to ride. There are some people that just can’t ride.”
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