2012 – Across Canada, Coast to Coast

My name is Sean Jacklin. I was born and raised in Victoria, out on the peninsula, and decided from early on that this is the place I would call home. I am a third year student at the University of Victoria, and an avid outdoor enthusiast. For the past year I have volunteered with Big Brothers and Sisters of Victoria and thoroughly enjoy the time spent with my little brother Lee and noticing the positive changes in both our lives. Cycling has always been a part of my life, from commuting to weekend adventures; but nothing out of the ordinary. So, the idea to cycle across the country for hospice? Here’s where it began…

I do not feel that a person needs an individual connection or experience with the hospice in order to contribute to this amazing community. It is a fact that the hospice is something that every person will potentially need during the course of their life; whether they suffer from cancer, dementia, or simply old age. I hope that I can inspire others to do the same.

Only after my involvement with the Cycle of Life Tour had I discovered that hospice had, in the past, affected my life already. My grandmother spent the last three weeks of her life in the Comox Hospice. At my young age, the details of her care were outweighed by the loss of family. Since I have been learn more and more about the hospice, my mother and immediate family have spoken highly about the individualized care and treatment for my grandma and the rest of the family while she was in care.

I am excited to be a part of the Cycle of Life Tour in is second consecutive year, it’s public initiatives like this one that will keep the hospice in motion.

2011 – Anchorage to Victoria

My name is Graham Robertson, I’m nearly a born-and-raised Victorian, and so far I
haven’t found a reason to leave this amazing part of the world except for little adventures around this incredible planet. I am a lover of cycling and being on a bicycle; however, I have never attempted a multi-day ride before and the longest I have ridden in a single day was about 90kms. This trip I plan on riding over 100kms each day for over 4 weeks. So it’s not like I’m Lance Armstrong going for my usual zip around on the bike.

My original inspiration for this ride came from a friend and colleague Lindsay Atkinson who passed away last summer from Lymphoma. Throughout last spring and summer an amazing, and amazingly large, group of people came together to pull off a successful fundraiser for Lindsay and her family called “Kicking Cancer for Lindsay”. Just the sheer amount of warm energy and positive people it drew and the effort that everyone put in really sparked something in me; a lot of this support came from innumerable people who had never even met Lindsay.

So late 2010 I started wondering what else I could do that would stimulate that same passion in people to give and help those they don’t know and haven’t met yet, while (guiltily) also sating my appetite for adventure. I’ve heard so many stories about Victoria Hospice, how it becomes such a vital part of people’s lives when loved ones are terminally ill, not only helping with the comfort of their family member but doing anything they could for the family and all parties affected…Victoria Hospice felt like the right choice and I was moved into action.

Now that the words are down on paper and the website is streaming whatever is they stream online, it is suddenly feeling very real. And where I expected to have this sense of commitment and the “can’t back out now” feeling, I am instead actually getting really excited, because it is real now, and this is happening. And it’s going to be incredible (except the whole dragging my sorry body across this country on a two-wheeled pedal bike…I’m going to need a gel seat).