Jarrid’s Team is seeking support and riders for the 2016 Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer.
The team was founded in 2011 by Cochrane local Jarrid Rich who, at the time, had just recently had surgery and chemotherapy to treat soft-tissue sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, in his lungs.
“In 2009 he was diagnosed and he had surgery because the initial tumor presented itself on his clavicle,” explained Suzanne Rich, Jarrid’s mother.
“It was determined in January or February (in 2010) that it was in his lungs so he went through open lung surgery in April.”
Not to be mistaken with lung cancer, sarcoma is a type of cancer considered an orphan disease. In Canada, 1 in 12 people are affected by a rare or orphan disease.
A year after he had his lung surgery, Jarrid decided to participate in the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer to raise funding and awareness about cancer and specifically the type he was diagnosed with.
“The sarcomas are among the most rare forms of cancer, and within that group there are many different kinds. He didn’t have lung cancer – that was a big motivation for him, getting the message out about the need for research and effective treatment for orphan cancers,” Suzanne explained.
At the end of 2011, it was determined his tumors had returned. He participated in a blind study using an experimental drug and he received chemotherapy to treat them. Suzanne said he started his treatment in December and went through “four courses” of it, ending in April 2012.
“There’s not enough people in the world to generate that kind of research, compared to breast cancer or colon cancer. The treatment Jarrid received, the initial treatment is the same treatment they’ve been using for the last 40 years. They don’t have anything really effective – so that’s why he participated in the ride.”
With just a six-week stretch between finishing his treatment and the ride, Jarrid decided he would participate in the event for a second time.
“He wasn’t even able to train for it – everybody was just amazed because he just got on that bike. For him, he just did it, that was just who Jarrid was,” Suzanne explained.
His story and commitment resonated with the people at Enbridge, who made him the honorary ambassador of the ride that year, in 2012.
“The day before he told me he didn’t know how we would do it and said it would be tough. I said ‘Jarrid, talking is easy. Cancer is tough. And you’re beating the cancer so I’m sure you can figure out how to talk to some people’,” Suzanne said with a laugh.
Sadly, Jarrid lost his long-fought battle when his sarcoma returned with a vengeance in 2013. Determined to keep his legacy alive, his family and friends continue to participate in the ride under his team name, Jarrid’s Team.
Not a small endeavour to be taken lightly, to participate in the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer, participants must raise $2,500 each. The hard work doesn’t stop once the money has been raised – the ride here in the Calgary area is a “grueling one.”
“The circuit they’ve been using runs from Calgary down to Okotoks and then back. It’s not this nice, flat ride – it’s a hell of a trip. And it was another thing that amazed people about Jarrid because it was his lungs where his cancer was and yet he could still get out there,” Suzanne said.
The team plans to fundraise locally in the months leading up to the ride, which takes place Aug. 6 and 7. Currently, they have 11 riders committed to participate in the ride this year.
The Rich family held an event already at the Cochrane Townhall Public House on Thursday, Mar. 10, where friends and family helped them raise $950.
At the event, the family showcased the jerseys they had designed for Jarrid’s Team. It displays the favourite colours of family, a silhouette of Jarrid, and a couple of mottos the team lives by – one is “Together we pay it forward” and the other is “Jarrid’s Team rides on.”
Suzanne said Jarrid’s true motivation was his children, Grace and Jackson. She said right after he finished his treatments he even went and signed up to be their team’s soccer coach.
“The other parents on the team, they thought Jarrid was just making a fashion statement with his bald head. They didn’t even know,” Suzanne said with a laugh.
Grace, 12, is adamant that the team continue to participate until she is 16 and can join them.
“Kids have to be 16 to participate or to ride, and that’s what she’s wanting to do. On his last ride, the kids were there at the finish line and Gracie was just going ‘Daddy I want to do the ride.’ and he said ‘Yes, you will.’ And she goes ‘But daddy, what if you’ve died?’ and Frank Diamond, Jarrid’s godfather, said ‘Gracie, don’t worry, you’ll get to do the ride,’ ” Suzanne explained.
“That’s why it’s so important for his family to ‘keep him out there’. He is an example, something you can look to and say ‘I can pay it forward.’ ”
