By Kayla Bruch

PWOS all smiles at the end of day one

Feb 1, 2015 | 7:19 AM

On Friday, snowmobilers hit the trails, riding the snow to raise money for breast cancer research and early detection.

The Prairie Women on Snowmobiles (PWOS) kicked off their eight day mission in Nipawin at 8:30 a.m. Friday morning. The riders finished their first day of riding in Prince Albert on Friday afternoon and attended a banquet on Friday night.

“The lady’s got on their sleds and we rode through the trails to Love and then ditch banged it all the way but it was nice snow… that we [saw] earlier this week and it was [an]…awesome first day,” said Carol Lueken, president of PWOS.

Second-year PWOS rider, Barb Batdorf said she first joined the ride in 2011 so unfortunately this will be her final year riding.

“It’s been fantastic, the first year was very humbling…I was diagnosed in 2005 so that was like six years after I had my cancer and I thought ‘well I have to do it now or I never will,’” she said.

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In 2005 Batdorf learned she had HER2-positive, stage 1 breast cancer, which meant the cancer, was found early but she had to take a medication most patients don’t. She said no matter the challenges, she had support from her husband to beat the disease.

“I needed to have that new drug they call Herceptin, so I had to have that for a year and a half plus all the chemo before,” but luckily for Batdorf she “really didn’t get sick from the treatment or anything,” and she has been cancer free for 10 years.  

Since the diagnosis and treatment Batdorf has decided to make positive changes in her life.

“What I do I try to eat as healthy as I can, I exercise, I skidoo, I quad, I fish. Life is so short as it is, and it just seems like with cancer you’re kind of given a death sentence and that wasn’t the case with me but a lot of people don’t make it,” she said.

Batdorf was the fourth person out of seven in her family to be diagnosed with the disease, but she is the sole survivor. 

“I lost my dad [71] and my two brothers [16 and 51] to cancer so it kind of runs in the family,” she said. “I guess I call myself lucky to be alive because after you lose three of your family members it kind of dwells in the back of your mind, like ‘am I really going to make it,’ but I think it [takes] determination, stay[ing] strong and be[ing] positive.”

For Batdorf the journey across the province is a way for her to meet people struggling with cancer and help them in any way possible. She is also a peer support volunteer with the cancer society in Saskatchewan.

“It really opens your eyes to see that there are many, many people all across Saskatchewan suffering with the same disease that I had and my moto was to stay strong and stay positive,” she said. “[Peer support is] where we’re matched up with cancer survivors or people going through cancer treatments at the present time.”

Lueken said in their first day of riding they met about 10 breast cancer survivors and also heard a sad story about someone who lost the fight.

“One was a 15 year survivor and one was a 20 year survivor so were happy to hear those stories. Unfortunately [though] we heard a story of one who lost her battle just a couple of months ago…so every day is a different story and a different journey, cause there is no journey the same.

As the riders pray for snow heading into Saskatoon and during the rest of their journey, they hope their message about the importance of early detection and breast self-examinations is heard.

To see where the riders will be next click here to see a schedule of their tour. 

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter: @KaylaBruch1