Riding for heart health
900-km marathon trip raising money for new cardiac catheterization lab
Riding for heart health. Ian Forbes, who survived a serious heart blockage after undergoing cardiac catheterization, is shown riding up Mt. Ventoux in France as part of a 963 cycling trip in June 2010. The St. Catharines resident is taking part in the Tour du Lac event around Lake Ontario starting this weekend. Supplied photo
They’re risking a serious case of bicycle bum, but for a group of Niagara residents and others in southern Ontario and New York State preparing to ride bicycles all the away around the perimeter Lake Ontario, it’s all worth it to give Niagara a life-saving service that most of Ontario already takes for granted.
The event, dubbed the Tour du Lac, will see people ride a grinding 900-kilometre route around the great lake starting on July 17, over a seven-day period.
It’s all designed to help push the Rotary Club of St. Catharines South, the May Court Club of St. Catharines, and Performance Cars closer to their goal of raising $750,000 toward the new regional cardiac catheterization lab planned for the new Niagara Health System hospital under construction in St. Catharines.
Thorold resident Dan Toppari, who is juggling serious training for the ride with the hectic work schedule of working as a lawyer at a St. Catharines law firm, is one of the organizers of the event.
He said the Rotary club, which he’s a member of, and the May Court club previously worked together to raise funds toward the establishment of Hospice Niagara, which provides terminally ill people with dignified, compassionate care in their final days.
“It was a good partnership so we set our sights on something else,” this time with the car dealership company on-board as a partner, said Toppari.
About a dozen people — from a semi-retired St. Catharines dentist to a retired airline pilot — have signed up for the full ride, while others will join in along the way for one-day rides along the route. The ride starts in St. Catharines and proceeds to Trenton, Kingston, Oswego, N.Y., Webster, N.Y., Lockport, N.Y. and back to St. Catharines.
Along for the full ride will be St. Catharines resident Ian Forbes, who has first-hand knowledge of how vital cardiac catheterization is. A few years ago, he started experiencing extreme chest pain and shortness of breath.
“It got so I couldn’t walk upstairs,” he recalled.
Luckily, his family doctor referred him to a cardiac specialist with the Niagara Health System, who quickly sent him to the closet catheterization lab at Hamilton General Hospital. Doctors there found his left coronary artery was 95 per cent blocked.
Forbes said the procedure, which typically involves inserting a thin, flexible tube to diagnose problems and remove blockages, undoubtedly saved his life.
“I’m a real lucky guy,” he said.
Niagara is the only major region in Ontario without its own catheterization lab. Forbes said most people with heart conditions are lucky enough to survive the trip to Hamilton or Toronto for treatment.
“Some aren’t,” he said bluntly.
Forbes, who started cycling in 2008 as part of his rehabilitation with a few trips around the block, is now an avid cyclist: in June 2010, he rode 26 kilometres up Mont Ventoux in France as part of a 963-kilometre, seven-day trek from the Mediterranean to Germany. He also left his former high-stress job as an automotive sales manager to work at a bicycle shop.
Rotary club members in Trenton, Webster and Lockport will be joining up with the Tour du Lac riders, and Rotary clubs will be hosting barbecues for them along the way, said Toppari. Riders are also planning to document their adventure along the way with a blog on the local Rotary Club’s website.
“It’s going to be fun meeting with all the Rotarians,” said Toppari.
People can make pledges for the riders online through the St. Catharines Hospital Foundation’s website, available through the Tour du Lac website at www.rotarytourdulac.ca/
