Pitching in: Cycling to raise funds in the fight against cancer

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The organizer: Ray Chodura

The pitch: Raising $10,000 and climbing

The cause: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada

Nick Chodura had just started his engineering studies at Queen’s University in September, 2017, when he began experiencing itchy skin, a lump in his throat and night sweats.

He returned home to Ottawa later that fall where doctors confirmed he had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system which is part of the body’s immune system. Mr. Chodura, who was 18 at the time, started chemotherapy on Christmas Eve and went through 11 more rounds of treatment over the next six months. On June 18, 2018, he was told that his lymphoma was in remission. He returned to Queen’s that fall and graduated last April.

Mr. Chodura has been cancer free for five years and to celebrate the milestone his parents – Ray and Carolyn Chodura – have planned a cycling trip to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada. Ray Chodura, 65, is setting off on Sept. 5 and he plans to cycle 1,000 kilometres along the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail from Sauble Beach, Ont., to Kingston General Hospital where Nick was first diagnosed. He’ll be joined for the last leg of the ride by Ms. Chodura and Nick.

“It’s an adventure, a challenge for me,” said Ray, a retired insurance adjuster. “It’s also a way of communicating and reaching out to friends and family members and having them on board a little bit.” He’d originally hoped to raise $5,000 but he’s already had $10,000 worth of pledges.

The family has been touched by cancer before. Mr. and Ms. Chodura both have parents who died from leukemia and Ms. Chodura also lost her grandmother to the disease. Nick is their only child and when he was diagnosed with cancer, the Choduras felt helpless. They were grateful and overwhelmed by the care their son received from the doctors, nurses and staff at Ottawa General Hospital.

Ray Chodura said the family has begun to put the cancer behind them, but they still worry whenever Nick is ill. “A bad cold that doesn’t seem to want to clear up is suddenly a concern,” he said. “I suppose that will probably never go away.”