FORMERLY THE ROCKY VIEW FIVE VILLAGE WEEKLY
Volume 35, Number 28	OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR THE MD OF ROCKY VIEW #44	Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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Northern Angels pass through the region
Elisabeth Heslop

"Who ever thought hail would hurt," Kimberley Wilde said with a shrug as she rubbed her lower lip in memory.

Wilde, one of three women who took a horseback trip from Cold Lake to Calgary in support of rural cancer patients, was describing the first day on the trail.

"We left Cold Lake in the heat," she said "and that first day it hailed. I got a split lip from the hail."

Wilde, along with Sandi Godin and Debbie McRury, stopped in Beiseker on Canada Day as they neared the end of their over 600-km horseback journey.

The women were riding to raise money and awareness for the Canadian Cancer Society Support Program and the rural cancer patients, survivors and caregivers the program serves.

Named the Northern Angels Health and Wellness Ride, the initiative has raised $32,000 and donations are still coming in.

Each of the women has their own reason for making the ride. 49-year-old McRury, a grandmother of five, said it is about living your life. "Just because you are getting older doesn’t mean you can’t do things," she said. "I’ve had the time of my life."

Wilde had another thought. "Part of what makes it so special," she said "is that we are women. Some people say ‘you can’t do that, you’re women’." She laughed, "They couldn’t have asked for three more stubborn women."

But their most important reason for riding is their motto: We ride for those who can’t.

"Everyone has been affected by cancer at some point," Wilde said. "The memory and honour of those (people) keeps us going."

The women have received support from communities and strangers, but the support they value the most is from their families. McRury’s husband, Neil McRury, and Wilde’s boyfriend, Dave Green, both took time away from work to travel alongside the women, driving the truck and hauling the trailer with equipment, belongings and extra horses, ensuring the women and horses got enough water, and taking care of any other needs.

Godin has two children at home, and their extended families have also been a big help. "They give us the courage to keep going on," Wilde said. "They are all very proud of what we do."

The inspiration for the ride came to Godin through Derek Charland, a young member of Cold Lake First Nations who suffered a vehicle accident that put him in a coma. Godin learned that the doctors had told Charland’s family he would either never wake up or, in the best case scenario, he would wake up but would never walk or talk again. However, Charland woke up, and over a period of three months he began to recover, even walking and talking. Sadly, in the midst of his progress, Charland was diagnosed with cancer. Within two weeks the illness was declared terminal.

"When he took a turn for the worse," Wilde said, "his family took him home at his request, but at great cost to themselves. Sandi saw first-hand the devastation (cancer) could put on families. We also hope to give awareness to rural people that there is help (through the Canadian Cancer Society Support Program)."

After learning Charland‘s story and linking it to her own family’s history with cancer, Godin sat down beside Wilde at last year’s Cold Lake Spring Bull-A-Rama. "I got this idea," she said. "I want to ride horses down to Calgary – you in?"

From that September day, planning the trip started, and the trio left Cold Lake on June 17.

After riding with the others for the first six days, Wilde had one of her horses go lame. She sent her two horses back and continued on in a support position, answering questions from media, and going ahead to find resting locations.

The women have many memories of extreme weather, helpful strangers and new friends.

McRury remembers a man who stopped as they were riding down the ditch and asked them where they were going.

When they responded that they were riding to Calgary he said, "I thought so." He then pulled out his wallet, handed them $500, and drove off without ever giving his name.

"We may be the ones on horseback," McRury said, "but we feel everyone in rural Alberta is riding with us."

And then there was the Donalda ice cream. Godin remembered the day they rode to the town as being long, hot and hard.

"We went through two huge coulees," she said. "Part of the way through the second coulee we saw a guy on a dirt bike going up the hill and turning on to a second dirt road." Taking their chances, the riders followed him and found Donalda. The first building they saw was called The Nutcracker Sweet. They took turns holding each other’s horses and going in to buy ice cream.

"I sat on a fire hydrant and enjoyed my ice cream and my coke, holding two horses," Godin said. "That was the best ice cream I’ve ever had."

After 17 days of hard riding under extreme weather conditions and some good ice cream, the riders said the trip was worthwhile, and their advice to others is to "do it at least once."

Wilde said anyone struggling with cancer in a rural area can call the Canadian Cancer Society at 1-888-939-3333 or go to www.cancer.ca. Anyone wishing to donate to the Northern Angels can email them at northern.angels@hotmail.com.