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Cyclist rides from Alta. to Sask. to support children’s hospitals and organizations

Aug 6, 2018 | 10:00 AM

Graham Tait’s epic eight day bike tour stopped in the Gateway to the North when he paid visit to a building that will benefit from his roughly 1,400 kilometre journey.

The cyclist stopped into the Ronald McDonald Family Room on Aug 5. as part of his tour Minds Matter Bike Tour between Calgary and Emma Lake. Tait is riding to advocate and fundraise for children and adolescent mental health.

“I’m trying to help out my youngest boy and a lot of kids with serious mental illness,” Tait said. “I know quite a few kids with cancer and serious illness that also suffer from mental illness… there’s a real connection there.”

He said his goal was to get people to think about the connections between serious illnesses and mental illnesses like depression or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which can accompany diagnoses.

While the Alta. portion of his ride fundraised for the Alberta Children’s Hospital, he’s riding to support Ronald McDonald House Family Rooms in Sask.

While on a previous ride supporting the National Kids Cancer Ride he met Mason Gariepy who was staying at the Ronald McDonald room in Saskatoon.

“He was quite shy and I don’t think he was in the happiest moods that morning, but we really loved him the minute we met him,” Tait said. “It was kind of the defining moment of the ride for us… it was just that moment when everything fell into place as to why we were doing this.”

Tait said he realized the benefit the special spaces the Ronald McDonald House Family Rooms had on the Gariepy family.

“It was a safe place. It was a break for me. It was a break for [Mason],” Gale Gariepy, Mason’s mother said. “It was a safe place for Mason when he was out of the hospital as well.”

Aside from providing a safe place for her and her son, the Ronald McDonald Rooms where Mason stayed gave the chance for his dad and brothers to come along and spend time with him. The rooms had laundry and other essential services to ensure things were as easy as possible for the family as well.

She said Mason taught the family a lot in his seven years of life and year and a half of sickness. His outlook on life, smile and the way he wanted to have everyone involved left an impact on the family and people across the country.

“We want to keep that legacy going,” Gariepy said. “Its people like Graham that help us keep going, and moving forward, and bringing awareness to the things these kids need, the things these places need, the staff need.”

While Tait’s ride may have concluded, he is still collecting donations through his website to support both the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

 

Bryan.eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas