The Humboldt region will be represented by not one, but two riders when Prairie Women on Snowmobiles (PWOS) zooms across the province early next year.
Rosalie Venderbuhs and Natelle Nordick, both of Englefeld, will be among 10 women who will ride their snowmobiles 1,800 kilometres in eight days starting January 27, raising money for breast cancer research and awareness about the disease.
Both were urged to get involved with PWOS by former core riders from the area.
Jaime Fleischhacker of Fulda was the one to speak to Venderbuhs about it.
"She was so excited about her ride last year," Venderbuhs said. "She said, 'You really need to do this.'"
Venderbuhs, formerly Wegleitner, grew up in Fulda with her four brothers and one sister. She now lives on an acreage near Englefeld with her husband Glen and her children Nicholas and Sidney.
She lost her mother last year, and her father just a few weeks ago. And in trying to follow advice her mother gave her - "When you're down on your luck and times are tough...do something kind for someone else," - she became interested in PWOS.
"I was hoping to find the company of people who had similar experiences of losing their parent or loved one too soon. I was very close to my parents and they were a part of my daily lives," she said.
She is hoping that spending some time on her snowmobile will provide her with an opportunity for reflection about her parents, and the time in communities to meet people who have had similar experiences, which she feels will help the grieving process.
Though Venderbuhs doesn't consider herself an avid snowmobiler, she's confident she can complete the eight-day journey. She signed up for a one-day ride with PWOS last year, and was able to complete the day, though temperatures dropped to about -45C.
She's dedicating her ride to her mother, and her brother-in-law.
"I am riding in memory of my mother who fought bravely against cancer," Venderbuhs said. "She did not die of breast cancer, but the pain for all involved with the battle of any cancer is devastating."
Her brother-in-law is also courageously fighting cancer right now.
"So here's to raising money for research to slow this thing down and prevent the future generations from going through the pain," she said.
For Nordick, it was core rider Sherisse Sametts, who lives in Humboldt but who hails from Nordick's hometown of Quill Lake, who got her thinking about riding.
Nordick had known Sametts growing up, but was surprised when she saw her riding with PWOS last year.
"I went up to her and said, 'I'm so sorry,'" Nordick said, because she thought, in order to ride with PWOS, you had to have had breast cancer, or lost someone close to you to it.
"I'd always wanted to ride with PWOS, but I was glad I didn't qualify," she said.
When she found out you didn't have to be a survivor to be a core rider, you just have to have a deep need to help fight cancer, she was ready to get on her sled.
After all, she has some very personal and professional reasons for wanting to eradicate all types of cancer.
Nordick, formerly Romaniuk, moved to Englefeld with her husband, Murray, 15 years ago.
As a home care nurse who works out of Humboldt, "rare is the day when I do not have a client who has suffered from some form of cancer," Nordick said.
Her clients, and a co-worker who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, occupy her thoughts even when she's not at work, she said, wondering how they are doing with their treatments, or how their families are coping.
"I do my part to help these people after the disease has manifested, but would truly love to find a cure so that I would meet these wonderful people personally instead of professionally," she stated.
That professional interest, combined with the loss of several family members and friends to cancer, and a need to do something about cancer, are what is putting Nordick on her sled this winter.
She is quite familiar with the machines. Together with her husband and their two sons - Cody and Zachary - the Nordicks spend some of their leisure time snowmobiling every winter.
"My husband re-introduced me to snowmobiling after a hiatus during my teens and I've loved it ever since," Nordick said.
"Riding with Prairie Women on Snowmobiles is my way of doing my part to 'fix' cancer," she added. "It is an honour to be a part of such an amazing group of women, fighting for such a great cause. I look so forward to the journey that lies ahead!"
When Venderbuhs and Nordick were both accepted as core riders for Mission 2012, they decided to join forces to raise the money each rider commits to gathering for the cause before they leave on their ride.
They've done very well on that front. With over two months until their December 31 deadline, they've raised over $5,000 of their $6,000 requirement.
Some of that money has come in through donations, for which they can issue receipts.
Watson Agrium gave a very sizable donation, Nordick said, actually doubling the large donation they had dedicated to PWOS last year.
Another donation is coming from the local Knights of Columbus, who held a pancake breakfast for PWOS.
They've also raised money through a luncheon in Humboldt, which attracted about 140 people.
Coming up, they will be hosting a Family Fun Dance in Englefeld, which will feature Venderbuhs' brother, Ron Wegleitner, and his son - they form the band Johnny Fulda and the Roughriders - as well as a silent auction and door prizes.
They will also be selling posters shaped like snowmobiles in surrounding towns. People will get to put their name on the small posters and they'll be hung on the wall.
Humboldt's business community has been extremely generous in supporting their cause, they two noted.
"It feels like we have hardly touched the surrounding area," they said, as the Humboldt businesses have been so willing to support them.
The Bella Vista Inn supported their luncheon in myriad ways, and Kevin Grieman of This is Your Computer is making their posters for them, they said. Others have been more than willing to give them cheques or other sorts of donations, helping them get very close to reaching their target.
But they're not going to stop when they hit $6,000, the two said. They'll keep accepting donations, and trying to gather more.
"This is for cancer. We'll do all we can," Venderbuhs said.
The money is one thing. Raising awareness is the other.
People who don't have cancer think that they will never get it, the two noted.
"The average attitude is that it's so sad, but they don't think it will happen to them," Venderbuhs said.
By riding across Saskatchewan, they hope to convince people to be more aware of the possibility that they could get cancer, and to get anything suspicious checked out.
Though they are giving up time and effort to ride across Saskatchewan, both believe that any discomforts they will encounter are paltry when compared to the suffering of cancer patients.
"A sore thumb.... frostbite... are nothing compared to somebody going through chemo treatment," Nordick stated.
"It's still nothing to the days when you sit in a hospital, waiting for good news, with no control over what you hear," Venderbuhs said.
The reaction they've had from cancer survivors already is overwhelming, they added.
"A woman came up to me at the lunch (held in Humboldt two weeks ago) and started telling her story, saying 'I'm so thankful you're riding for me.' It completely floored me," Nordick said.
That, she grinned, made her worry that she's going to spend the whole ride crying.
That ride will kick off in Humboldt this year. A kick-off banquet is being planned for January 26, the night before the ride starts.
Ninety-seven per cent of the funds raised by PWOS stays in Saskatchewan, and 100 per cent of what they raise goes to cancer research.
