Ride for Dad roars through Kingston, Napanee
The roar of engines could be heard throughout the city of Kingston Saturday, as bikers hit the road, racing out to “Ride for Dad”, raising money and awareness for prostate cancer research.
It’s something David Bailey knows all about, having been diagnosed in 2017.
He says his life changed on a cross-Canada motorcycle trip, using the very motorcycle he uses today.
“I was on a big trip out west, when I returned I thought, this isn’t quite right,” he explains.
He says he visited his doctor, and after a blood test, was told the news.
“Within three weeks, I had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. It came out of nowhere, very suddenly.”
He is cancer-free today and rides his motorcycle to raise money for cancer research because some of his friends have not been so lucky.
“That’s why I take part in this,” he says. “I’m a big believer in the research and the work that goes on in Kingston for this.”
The event has been going on in cities across Canada since 2000, after first launching in Ottawa that year.
Kingston was the second city to host it in 2004 and on its own has raised $1.5 million throughout the years.
On Saturday, more than 250 drivers paraded, waved flags, and honked their horns, driving from downtown Kingston to Napanee and back.
The Canadian Cancer Society says prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in men but if caught early there is a strong survival rate. Organizer Marion Perry says the event promotes awareness.
“Men in their 50s should be getting checked. That is the main message that we’re putting out there,” she explains. ”If I knew then what I know now, about this disease, and it’s a silent disease, I might have saved my dad.”
Perry lost her own father to the disease in 1996. He died one week after being diagnosed because she says he didn’t know to get checked.
“Every day, 63 men are diagnosed and 11 men die from this disease. So we’ve got a lot of work to do,” she says.
The charity has raised more than $35 million since it started.
Putting the pedal to the metal, Bailey says that money has saved lives.
“We’re here for one cause, and I think that help keeps us all together,” he says.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.