Duhacek raising dollars for cancer society
The month of February is the month to prove you can
complete a long distance walk that includes sacrifice and determination.
Mike Duhacek is walking from Windsor to Ottawa and is
also pulling a 125-lbs sleigh with the word ‘Cancer’ on it, as part of his awareness
and fundraising trek.
The 36-year-old Milton man needs to be applauded and
supported for this walk.
If you’re looking for details on the 14th
annual Relay For Life in Woodstock, scroll back in January entries to my
writing to promote that June 14-15 event at CASS.
Man begins Windsor to
Ottawa walk to end cancer
THE WINDSOR STAR
Last Updated: Feb 04, 2013 Michael Duhacek said he chose February specifically because it’s the month with the best chance for the worst kind of weather conditions.
WINDSOR -- Mike Duhacek has watched his mother battle cancer for
nearly three years.
It’s a disease that claimed the lives of two of his
grandparents and when he discovered that one in three Canadians will be
diagnosed with it, he decided to fight back.
For each one of the over 75,000 Canadians who will die of
cancer this year, Duhacek is pledging to take 10 steps on their behalf in a
walk across Ontario that he’s hoping will symbolize struggle, perseverance and
ultimately burying cancer.
“I have a lot of frustration from watching both my
grandparents fight the disease and both pass away from it and then with my
mother going through three cancer surgeries and seeing what it actually does to
people,” said the 36-year-old from Milton, Ont.
“I wanted to take that frustration and put it into
something positive so I came up with dragging something around that depicts
cancer, and what better depicts cancer than the actual word cancer?”
www.helpmeburycancer.org
Written in large wooden letters, the word cancer is
displayed on the side of a sled that he will be dragging behind him on his
province-wide trek. The total weight of the sled is about 125 pounds.
“I want to take the word cancer and drag it behind me in
the worst conditions, showing it no mercy and making it suffer like it does to
so many people,” said Duhacek, whose walk begins at 7 a.m. today at the
University of Windsor and should end in about a month in the nation’s capital.
“Once I get to Ottawa, I will actually physically bury
the word in the ground where I think it belongs.”
“I hope it’s cold, I hope it’s blowing snow, I hope it’s
freezing rain. I know that it’s going to be tough, and I want it to be tough. I
think this journey represents that people can struggle but then can persevere,
so that’s why I chose the winter for the walk,” Duhacek said.
“I just want to try and symbolize in a small way and give
my sincere respect to anybody fighting the disease as well as any family
members because I just see what a grueling disease it is.” It doesn’t just
affect the person who gets it, but family members too, he said. “It spreads
right through the family and to watch that suffering is not fun.”
Duhacek is dedicating the walk to all cancer patients and
their families, and particularly his mother, Liz Crocket, who was first
diagnosed with cancer in the spring of 2010.
“I’m going to help my son Mike bury cancer, before it
buries me,” his mother wrote in a blog post on her son’s website,
HelpMeBuryCancer.org.
After years of on and off chemo and radiation, a blood
transfusion, physiotherapy and three surgeries, Crocket posted on Jan. 28 that
her surgeon told her she was cancer-free.
She said it has been a journey she could not have walked
without her family by her side.
“Our family’s not unique, we’re not special, we’re just
an ordinary family who has cancer and there’s a lot of families out there that
are experiencing the same feelings that we are,” Crocket said Saturday. She
said she’s so proud of her son.
“Everyone says to me, ‘You must be so proud,’ but I think
the word proud doesn’t quite describe it. I’m beyond proud.”
Dahucek hopes to raise a total of $250,000 for the
Canadian Cancer Society, and has already raised $13,000.
“Having such an overwhelming amount of support before I
even take a step speaks volumes,” said Dahucek.
He plans to be as visible as possible to the public on
his walk, hitting as many urban centres he can along the way to raise awareness
and collect donations.
Donations can be made through his website,
HelpMeBuryCancer.org, where he will also be keeping a daily blog of his
journey. More information can also be found on his Facebook page called Help Me
Bury Cancer.
Since the spring, Dahucek has been training, which has
included dragging 125 pounds behind him through his hometown. He has even
practised resistance training by tying a harness to his waist and pulling his
brother-in-law’s tractor.
He plans to walk about eight hours each day, burning 500
calories every hour while dragging the heavy sled. He said he’s aiming to
walk 40 to 50 kilometres a day, but understands he may not always make
that goal because he intends to stop along the way to talk to people who have
also been affected by cancer.
“We need to do something to eradicate this disease,” he
said.
He said he’s prepared as he can be for the challenge that
starts today.
“I feel excited, I feel anxious, I feel ready, I feel
focused,” said Duhacek. “And I’m ready to make a difference.”
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/02/03/man-begins-walk-across-ontario-to-end-cancer
Windsor Star photo
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