FORT FRANCES—A message of hope and survival rode into town last Thursday afternoon when Dee Miller arrived in Fort Frances on the 52nd day of her 100-day biking tour around Ontario.
It’s a trek Miller is doing to reach people with information about “Renewed Strength,” a charitable organization that helps cancer survivors get physically mobile and active again after treatment.
“There’s so many programs that are available if people just know where to go to get them and then it opens up a whole new world,” said Miller. “So I hope that what I’m able to do by coming up here is opening up that world.”
The free program, which comes in both DVD and VHS format, answers questions cancer survivors may have. It also features a 30-minute walk through exercises for both beginner and advanced levels that can be done while seated in a chair.
“It’s the mobility,” explained Miller. “It’s starting that positive cycle of doing a little bit more [and] doing a little bit more so you start feeling better.
“That’s what it’s all about.”
The only catch is needing a doctor’s permission to exercise.
It was a type of program that didn’t exist in Ontario until Miller fought her own battle with cancer more than four years ago.
“I had no idea there was nothing when you leave the hospital,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of people in my family who have had cancer . . . but you don’t think about it—that more people are living with cancer than dying from it.
“So I wasn’t aware of the need.”
With a background in health and fitness, and as an owner of personal training companies, Miller decided she needed to do something to fill this gap.
While the “Renewed Strength” program became available in major cancer centres and translated into different languages, Miller felt she wasn’t reaching enough people, especially in Northern Ontario.
That’s where the idea of biking around Ontario in 100 days came from—tied into Ontario’s 100-day fitness challenge. It’s also why more than half of her trip has been spent in Northern Ontario.
“It’s been incredible. It’s been better than I expected,” enthused Miller, who has been getting T-shirts signed by people in every town she visits since beginning the trip in Ajax.
“Coming into different communities like here, everybody’s so nice,” she added.
“It’s really exciting that she came here, especially when she was travelling on the Trans-Canada [Highway 17],” said Fort Frances deputy mayor Sharon Tibbs, who greeted Miller at the Civic Centre.
“To make the detour and to come through our larger community, Rainy River District, [and] of course, Fort Frances, is a real plus as far as I’m concerned,” added Coun. Tibbs.
“We really appreciated her coming.”
The message Miller brings—that there are cancer survivors and there are programs to help them get physically together again—is important, stressed Coun. Tibbs.
“She’s bubbly and she sends a very positive message to people who are facing cancer, and I think that’s the kind of things you need to hear.”
The one person who has been with Miller for every single day of her trip as she pedals from town to town has been her mother.
“She’s the best!” said Miller. “How else could you do it without having your mom with you for 100 days?
“She drives every day and takes care of everything,” Miller added. “All I have to do is get on the bike and go.”
“A lot of children will spend the afternoon with their mother for Mother’s Day but I got 100 days,” said Miller’s mother, Bev May Miller.
“We’re having an absolute ball. We have so much fun together,” she added. “We’re best friends. I’m the luckiest mom in the world, and one of the proudest.”
Because of their close relationship, they made sure to get plenty of photos as they travelled along “Mom’s Way” here in Rainy River District.
“It makes you feel so happy that her cancer wasn’t for nothing because I was petrified when she got cancer,” her mom said. “It doesn’t matter wherever you are . . . when it’s your child, it gets you right to the core.”
Being able to turn the experience of cancer into something that has helped so many people is amazing, she remarked.
One thing Miller has seen and learned on her trip is that a lot of people who have survived cancer in the smaller northern communities often don’t have access to the same support groups as others who have been through the same experiences.
“[It’s] knowing that our program can get them started on the right foot and giving them that connection, even with the ‘Caring Voices’ program through Princess Margaret Hospital,” noted Miller.
“They can talk to other people who have had breast cancer, they can talk to other people that might be able to answer their questions.”
While her program is focused on fitness, Miller said because of the connections she’s built, it’s also about helping to find answers for other questions.
“It’s not just going home and trying to get your life back, without having the support,” she stressed. “There is support out there.”
Miller’s progress throughout her 100-day trek can be followed via chats and forums at the “Caring Voices” website run by the Princess Margaret Hospital at www.caringvoices.ca
For more information about “Renewed Strength,” visit www.renewedstrength.ca
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
