Motorcycle Ride for Dad donates $80,000 to cancer research in Kelowna ahead of 15th event – Kelowna News

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Members of Motorcycle Ride for Dad will celebrate 15 years of spreading prostate cancer awareness and fundraising in the Okanagan next month with their annual ride and campaign.

On Friday, the group stopped at the BC Cancer Center in Kelowna to present a check for $80,000 to the BC Cancer Foundation, where the money will be used to promote cancer research in Kelowna.

“Every year, at least 70 percent of our fundraising goes to research, led by our cancer patients and Dr. Crook here from the research facility,” said cancer survivor Bob Cherron, president of the Okanagan chapter of Motorcycle Ride For Dad.

“We are very pleased to present a check for $80,000, this is the result of the money we raised in 2023.”

The 15th anniversary ride will take place on June 9.

“We’re starting again at the Kelowna banners and riding through the South Okanagan to raise awareness with people riding motorcycles and making a little noise, and right now the idea is of course to collect pledges.”

Cherron himself survives prostate cancer and loses both his father and brother to the same cancer. Cherron tells Castanet that everyone involved in the campaign has a story and that it is crucial for men to take action and get investigated.

“We have seen an increase in the past two years in the number of men finally realizing they need to get the PSA blood test done. It is less invasive than the old way and it is more accurate,” said Cherron.

According to the group, they ran a major radio campaign this year and have since noticed more and more people coming forward to say they have been tested.

If cancer research is to have a lasting impact, that push for testing must continue.

“The bad side of it is that more and more men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer, and that’s only because before we were barely touching 20 percent of men over 40,” says Cherron.

Radiation oncology professor Juanita Crook believes brachytherapy treatment in Kelowna would not be possible without the Motorcycle Ride for Dad campaign and the $1.1 million they have raised since its inception.

Seeing the results, she encourages doctors and patients to be more open to testing.

“I wish there were more and I wish GPs would get the message because even if a very aggressive prostate cancer is caught early, it can be cured,” Cook said.

“Whereas if it’s caught too late, you have millions of dollars worth of very expensive treatments and the treatments progress and we can extend their lives, but we can’t cure it if it’s too late.”

The Okanagan Ride for Dad will ride through the Central and South Okanagan on June 9 at 10 a.m. People are encouraged to donate by visiting the website and completing a pledge form.

Men over 40 should contact their GP to request a PSA test.