In memory of his father, and to raise money and awareness for ALS Canada, an Owen Sound native is cycling from Toronto to his home town.
Matt Vokes is making the roughly 200km trip on Saturday, (July 24th) in the longest bike ride he’s ever attempted.
Vokes says 2021 marks ten years since his father Larry Vokes, died from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of 42, when Matt was just 14 and his siblings were 12 and nine years old.
Vokes is raising money to help support ALS Canada’s work with families. “When somebody is diagnosed to work through what the next few weeks, months of years are going to be like and help supply them with the equipment required to make the person who has been diagnosed more comfortable, and to allow families to have as much time and memories as they can since being diagnosed and along the journey,” says Vokes.
He says, “This year I decided that being the ten-year anniversary it would be appropriate to kind of challenge myself to a larger extent and do a bike ride.”
Vokes says the money will also go towards the goal of making the disease treatable and not terminal, “Right now there’s no cure and there’s no treatment,” says Vokes, adding, “It’s kind of something that you have to take day by day but there’s a lot of research ongoing.”
His initial fundraising target was set at $500. He says as of Thursday morning (July 22nd) $5,000 had been raised.
“I’m ten times my initial target which is an incredible level of support that comes from the communities” says Vokes, adding, “It just shows the impact that my dad and people who have loved ones who have been impacted by ALS have made on the community and the people that they love and are in touch with.”
Vokes says he began cycling as a pastime during the pandemic and has been training for this ride for the last couple of months.
He plans to leave Toronto at 6:30 a.m. “I expect the ride to take me nine to ten hours of riding time. Then with breaks for food and nutrition and hydration, I’m expecting it to take me probably 12 hours. So my target is to be in Owen Sound before 7 p.m.”
He’ll be taking some bike trails out of Toronto, and heading up to Brampton and then along backroads that follow along Highway 10, over to Chatsworth and past the house he lived in with his dad, before entering Owen Sound on the west side by Greenwood Cemetery where his father’s memorial stone is located.”
His message to families affected by ALS is, “Spend the time with that loved one while you have it.”
Vokes explains, “There’s a lot of uncertainty for the person who’s being diagnosed as well as the family and surrounding loved ones. Ensure that you live every day to the fullest as you can, you never know what’s around the corner but I think that’s true for everybody in life.”
He adds, “To the families who have lost somebody to ALS, I think it’s important to remember the impact those people have on your life lasts long after the person leaves the earth. Don’t feel so lonely, because for me, I see my dad in myself way more often that I thought I would, and I think this ride is a perfect example of that. I think this is something that he would do and people would probably call him crazy for doing it as well, but that’s something he’s left with me and I think over the rest of my life he’ll continue to make an impact.”
You can donate to Vokes’ ride HERE
