When childhood cancer hits families on Vancouver Island, it hits hard.
Here, the emotional toll can be compounded by added financial pressures and feelings of isolation as, often, the family is physically torn apart by the need to move the child to another city for treatment.
It’s an all-too-common scenario: a sick child is rushed to a faraway hospital, one parent quits work and moves nearby, and the other parent – if there is one — tries to keep things together at home. Even when no one has to relocate, caring for an ailing child can mean income drops, unexpected expenses pile up and the mortgage still needs paying, all while the family is in crisis. Even after treatment is finished, it can take years for a shattered family to put the pieces back together.
As the mother of a pre-teen who has spent more than two years in treatment for leukemia, Victoria’s Jen Millar is familiar with such stories.
That’s why she decided to take on the challenge of this month’s End2End cycling relay.
On June 16, Millar will join eight other riders in pedalling from Victoria to Port Hardy and back non-stop — that’s more than 1,000 kilometres in less than 48 hours.
The relay is a fundraiser for the Island Kids Cancer Association, a small, frontline charity that since 2017 has supported hundreds of cancer-stricken children and their families on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. The organization offers everything from short-term financial relief – money to put food on the table or gas in the tank – to programs focussed on mental health and countering the isolation often experienced by such families.
The Millar family – Jen, dad Trevor, son Eamonn and daughter Charlie — is one of those helped by IKCA. Their cancer journey began when Eamonn was diagnosed at age 9 in April 2024.
“It changed our lives and perspective on life instantly,” Jen said. “He started chemo the same day.” Eamonn spent 194 days of one year at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.
Yet the boy pushed back against the disease: while in hospital, he came up with artwork that became the design used on athletic socks sold to raise money for IKCA. His artwork also ended up on dog collars and leashes sold for the hospital’s pet therapy program. A book of jokes, inspired by those sent to him in hospital by his Cordova Bay Elementary classmates, is in the works.
Now it’s mother Jen’s turn to saddle up for the cause. A three-time Canadian Masters cross-country running champion, the 47-year-old is no stranger to athletic challenges. The bike relay is a different beast, though.
The effort will see the cyclists, riding day and night in groups of two or three, take turns pedalling a succession of 50-kilometre segments. Each group will pedal for roughly two hours, rest for six, then climb back in the saddle for another leg of the round-the-clock journey. Each rider will complete 250 kilometres by the time the trip is done. The relay will be held June 16-18 to maximize the hours of daylight.
Jen’s teammates on the relay will be 100.3 the Q’s Ed Bain and his partner on CHEK News’ The Upside, Jeff King, along with fellow Islanders Saskia Bjornson, Ryan Clarke, Morgan Harker, Sara Park, Sophia Pugh and Kevin Nunn (the latter of whom recently rode around UVic’s Ring Road for 24 hours straight to raise money for the cause). Biographies of the riders can be found at end2endcancer.com/team/ .
The cyclists will take on the relay knowing that the money they raise will not only stay on Vancouver Island but will go straight to the cause. End2End is a totally volunteer effort. There are no paid staff, and almost all the operating expenses have been absorbed by generous sponsors.
This will be the second time the relay has been staged. The first, in June 2025, raised more than $110,000.
That ride was dreamed up by retired Victoria police officer Andy Dunstan. He presented the idea to his employer, the Trek Bicycle Store, which quickly volunteered to become End2End’s organizing sponsor.
“As our motto says, it’s Islanders helping Islanders,” said Dunstan, End2End’s chair.