A team of B.C. cyclists has set a fundraising record in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a grueling 250-kilometre bike journey from Vancouver to Seattle.
And while Daryl Clark, the team’s namesake, didn’t live to see it happen, they’re nevertheless taking the $600,000 they raised as part of the ride and working to bring a revolutionary cancer treatment to North America.
“All we want is, obviously, for Daryl to be here too,” wife Joanna Clark told Global News. “But if we can help others, that’s the whole reason for this.”
Coverage of the Ride to Conquer Cancer on Globalnews.ca:
Clark, a beloved husband and father to three children, was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer three-and-a-half years ago.
Recognizing that his options would be limited in Vancouver, he looked into a treatment available only in Germany.
The treatment is known as radionuclide therapy; while other forms of chemotherapy target all normal body tissues, this one is only delivered directly to cancer cells, Francois Benard, vice-president of research at the BC Cancer Agency, told Global News.
It’s only offered to people on compassionate grounds, and to those who can travel to Germany.
So Clark travelled to Munich with his family to receive his first treatment in May, according to the cycle team’s fundraising page.
The treatment managed to shrink a tumour that had placed pressure on his optic nerve, limiting his eyesight; he could see fine again once he returned to Vancouver.
Clark was scheduled to have his second treatment on July 10, and it was expected to have a “more dramatic and positive imapct on Daryl’s cancer.”
But he died on June 17, in his bedroom, surrounded by family and friends.
READ MORE: ‘Ride to Conquer Cancer’ very personal for Kelowna woman
But Clark’s spirit lives on in “Daryl’s Heidelberg Hope,” a Ride to Conquer Cancer team that wants to use the money it’s raised to bring that treatment out this way.
“We got the idea of going out there and raising the money to try to bring this particular treatment that he had identified from Europe over here to North America,” friend Alex Blodgett told Global News.
Daryl inspired his team to a fundraising total of $614,670 through the ride, more than anyone has in its history, Joanna told Global news.
When taking anonymous and direct gifts into account, however, the team managed to raise over $1.5 million in total.
The team hopes that two clinical trials of the treatment can begin in B.C. by the end of the year.
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