New bike relay on Vancouver Island aims to support families affected by cancer

Susan Kerr is the executive director of the Island Kids Cancer Association. Her son, Jacob Kerr, died of cancer in 2019.

A new bike relay to support families affected by childhood cancer is celebrating its launch, as eight cyclists get ready to pedal through the night for charity in June.

“If you get a pediatric cancer diagnosis, it shouldn’t be a punishment. But there’s so much to worry about when a family may have to relocate, or somebody loses a job or there’s so many pressures from the outside,” says End2End chair Andy Dunstan.

“If we can help the Island Kids Cancer Association to take some of that pressure off so all the family has to do is worry about their kid getting better, then that’s a goal achieved.”

Two cheque presentations totalling $7,500 have been presented at a launch outside Victoria’s Trek Bike Store to get the fundraising started.

The group, spearheaded by a retired police officer who now works part time at the shop, says four pairs of cyclists will take turns riding 50-kilometre segments from Victoria to Port Hardy and back June 17-19. The team will be riding around-the-clock for a total of 1,000 kilometres.

“I’m of the mind that we’re doing something that people will want to support us doing things that maybe they wouldn’t do,” says Dunstan.

For its inaugural year, End2End hopes to raise $100,000 in support of Island Kids Cancer Association.

“It’s super exciting. Honestly, this is an event where, yes, you talk about the monetary part of it. We could do so much more with our programing. We could expand our programming,” says IKCA founder and executive director, Susan Kerr.

Kerr formed the grassroots association in 2017 in response to her family’s experience receiving care for her now late son, Jacob, who was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in 2005 at the age of five.

“We had to travel over to B.C. Children’s Hospital 40 times in one year,” she says.

Kerr says she bonded with many other families over gaps in services that she felt only continued.

“It’s an isolating experience and the isolation is even greater living on Vancouver Island,” she says.

“Through my son’s diagnosis, it kind of made me realize that everybody was just going to keep going as was, as it was, unless somebody took charge. I worked with a couple other parents and we decided that it was time.”

IKCA was unveiled two years prior to Jacob’s death at the age of 19. It now supports 200 families affected by cancer in a variety of ways – such as short-term funding to cover expenses, connections to frontline services like counselling and art therapy, and working with hospitals to provide food and fuel vouchers.

“We also have a community of adolescent young adult cancer survivors that we’re trying to help support getting back into the workforce with their schooling,” says Kerr.

In 2024, the association received requests from 23 families facing a new cancer diagnosis, more than double the previous year. Kerr believes it a combination of people coming to the region to live and becoming more aware of the charity.

She’s grateful End2End is not only adding to that awareness, but also helping grow its budget.

“I think when you have an event that is so upbeat and such a heartful event and such a good cause, I think it’s a way to bring families together to break the ice about this devasting disease. Because a lot of times people just don’t know what to do. And they’re like ‘well we feel helpless. I’m really sorry you’re going through that.’ But this is a way that people can tangibly be involved and make a true difference for families,” she says.

You can support End2End’s event or IKCA directly online.