Port Coquitlam local and mother of four, Odette Pepper, couldn’t believe when her doctor said she had two years left to live.
That was back in 2011, three years after going through a unilateral mastectomy intended to leave her cancer-free.
“It felt like I had been hit by a truck,” said Pepper.
Despite being diagnosed with having 18 tumors in her liver, she says she found the strength to fight for her life.
“I’ve had my ups and downs over the years,” she said. “You know sometime a treatment starts working and then there’s other times when the treatment is not working, and things start growing again and getting more active, so you start panicking again.”
“It’s a roller-coaster ride that’s for sure.”
She says her husband and four kids have been very supportive.
“They think it’s great, my kids are 100 per cent behind me and so is my husband,” said Pepper.
Five years after her diagnosis, she is down to five tumours, and despite her “bad days” because of the medicine she has to take, she still trains every week to get ready for her 200-kilometre journey.
This will be the fourth year she takes part in the Ride to Conquer Cancer event to raise funds for cancer research.
Ride to Conquer takes place every year to raise funds for the BC Cancer Foundation, with hundreds of people participating in the two-day long event.
“People always think they have to donate like a big amount, but it isn’t the case. If everybody were do donate $5, even we’d raise so much money,” said Pepper.
The race takes place this August, and with only a few months to go, her training becomes more rigorous.
She will be riding with the Cap’s Westwood Cycle team. She’s hoping to raise $5,000.
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