Gearing Up For the Ride

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In the past few years, I have witnessed many people I care about, go through some horribly painful experiences due to cancer. The personal strength that both the victims and their families displayed to keep going, to believe that things will get better, sometimes even just to smile, proves how strong the human spirit can be and I truly admire them all for teaching me what strength really means.

About three years ago, my aunt was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. She was only 52, very healthy, never smoked or was even exposed to any degree of second-hand smoke. The cancer started in her lungs and spread rapidly throughout her body. She battled it courageously; however, the cancer was so severe that within a few months of diagnosis she passed. The shock was felt throughout the family, but to her immediate family, my uncle and three cousins, the loss was unfathomable. The whole family rallied around them to lend their support of course, but it was the personal strength and inner courage that each of them had to find, and did find, to endure the pain that left an impression on me.

Around the same time, a recent girlfriend of mine had lost her mother to cancer as well. Although I only knew her after this had happened, and I couldn't possibly understand how it actually felt to lose your mother and best friend all at once, I could see the hurt and devastation it caused her. It gave me a deep respect for how strong a person she is, to maintain the positive attitude she still has towards life and how strong she had to be then, to get through that difficult time.

Beginning August 1st, 2007, I will be cycling from Mississauga, Ontario to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador to raise money and awareness for the Canadian Cancer Society and all it does to help cancer patients, victims and their families.

Please help me in this cause by donating to the Cancer Society through this page. No amount is too small and your donations will go towards assisting those whose lives have been forever altered by this terrible disease.

Sincerely,
Zain Rahman