WELLINGTON COUNTY – After surviving an 80-foot fall and 21 sessions of chemotherapy, Guelph resident Cyndy McLean is determined to tell her story and make a difference for cancer patients.
In 2003 McLean was on a month-long holiday in Michigan, hiking with her father and her rottweiler Ceilidh.
“We were in an area that is quite similar to Elora Gorge in terms of typography,” McLean told the Advertiser.
She was an active marathon runner and hiking was one of the many outdoor activities she enjoyed.
“We were out on a walk and one minute we’re all together and the next minute the dog and I disappeared and my dad didn’t know where we went,” she said.
McLean’s father ran upstream quite a distance, where he eventually saw the dog and found his daughter. Half of her body was facing one way and half was facing the other.
Her father ran out into the road and flagged down a stranger.
When rescuers arrived, McLean was conscious and the dog was completely uninjured.
“She didn’t even break a toenail,” McLean said.
Although she has no recollection of the fall, she said she was “bossy” with her rescuers.
“I told the rescuers, ‘I’m a marathon runner, I’ve had way worse injuries than this, just stand me up, I’ll walk this off,’” she noted.
With significant injuries to her head and body, and considering the location of the fall, both McLean and the dog were lifted out of the gorge by ropes.
“In a weird way I would have loved to see a 100-pound Rottweiler being brought out of the gorge with ropes,” she said.
After a few hours she was taken to a local hospital then airlifted from Michigan to Minnesota, where she underwent several surgeries before returning to Canada.
“I still remember the first time she (Ceilidh) came to visit me in the hospital; she took her head and kept pushing my legs,” she said. “It was sort of like she knew she needed to be super gentle.”
McLean was 33 at the time of her fall and worked at the University of Guelph.
“Over the course of being in the hospital I had to find a new place to live. I was single and so I had to ensure that I could live independently once I was discharged,” she said.
For 21 years she has been paralyzed from the waist down and has dealt with constant, chronic pain.
Cancer journey
Over a decade after her fall McLean noticed a wound on her buttocks from the excess wheelchair use and the “vulnerability” of her skin.
After a year of the wound not healing, her doctor decided she needed surgery.
She had the surgery at the Grand River Hospital Freeport Campus in Kitchener.
“The recovery is really difficult in the sense that you lie in bed on the opposite side of your surgery … for 24 hours a day for eight weeks,” added McLean.
While she sat in a hospital bed recovering, she noticed a “little lump” on her lower right quadrant.
Her doctor ran diagnostic tests and that is when she was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer, which spreads to other parts of the body.
“I credit the fact that I was in hospital … I can tell you with certainty if I were home and having gone through a year of this wound that wouldn’t heal, I was so sick and tired of medical appointments I would have just ignored it,” said McLean.
The doctors found a tumour in her colon that had spread to her liver.
They removed two thirds of her liver and about 18 inches of her colon.
Unfortunately, the post-surgery scans showed residual tumours in her liver, which triggered the chemotherapy sessions.
On her 49th birthday she had her first chemo treatment at the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre (GRRCC).
She proceeded to have 21 chemo treatments over the course of 10 months.
Cycling 4 Chemo Chairs
After five years of being “in the thick of chemo,” McLean decided to give back to the cancer centre and the people who supported her through her journey.
She initiated the “10 X 21: Cycling 4 Chemo Chairs” campaign to honour those who cared for her and to help support other people facing cancer.
Over 21 days in September, she will undertake 10 hand-cycling rides, each 21km long across 10 local communities:
- Guelph, Sept. 9;
- Cambridge, Sept. 11;
- Elmira, Sept. 13;
- Listowel, Sept. 16;
- Kitchener, Sept. 19;
- Fergus, Sept. 22;
- Waterloo, Sept. 24;
- Elora, Sept. 26;
- Millbank/Linwood, Sept. 28; and
- Grand River Regional Cancer Centre finale, Sept. 30.
“It just seemed like the right time,” McLean said.
She will be using a hand-cycle which is a type of bike powered by one’s arms.
Most hand-cycles are tricycle in form with two coasting rear wheels and one powered front steering wheel.
All funds raised will go towards purchasing four new chemotherapy chairs for the GRRCC. Each chair costs $7,000.
“They have to be very industrial because the cancer centre sees over 400 people a day,” McLean said.
It is important for both patient and those delivering care to function in the best way possible and these chairs allow that, she noted.
“It’s not news that there are a lot of people touched by cancer and if I could do something to also support all the people in the thick of their own journey that would be great,” she added.
GRRCC chief giving officer Ashley Howat is grateful for McLean’s campaign.
“She’s going to make a big impact and that’s because of her vision, her passion and her experience,” Howat told the Advertiser.
She stated 130 people have donated so far, resulting in a total of $19,000.
The price of the chemo chairs speaks to the importance of them.
“Patients sit for hours at a time in one of these chairs when receiving treatments,” said Howat. “They’re ergonomic enough that the person who is making the adjustments to the chair also doesn’t get injured.”
She explained many workplace injuries have occurred due to the “heavy duty” chairs and nurses prioritizing patients’ comforts and needs.
“Unfortunately, [the chairs] are full all the time; right now we have half of our patients in new chairs and half in old ones,” Howat noted.
McLean encourages the communities to support her initiative by donating, joining her at the ride kickoffs, or by spreading the word.
“If people want to join me to ride that’s great, but it’s really important that people understand they don’t have to come out and bike,” she noted.
Her primary goal with the campaign is to fundraise, share stories and meet new people.
“The best part of this campaign is meeting people in other communities that have their own cancer experience.”
For more information, to donate or become a sponsor visit cycling4chemochairs.ca.
