Follow Ramesh's Journey

I don’t think the team could have packed today’s schedule any tighter. We had a great day! It all started off at 7 am when CTV invited me into their studio for an appearance on Breakfast Television. While Chris and I were leaving the studio, three construction workers named Daniel, Roger and Gary approached us, as did a woman by the name of Shauna. Everyone was quite interested in the Cycle to Walk, and they were all both surprised and thankful for the information we provided them about polio.

I find talking about polio very satisfying. Polio has been nearly forgotten by the general public, but when people are informed about it, their reaction is always supportive. It turns out that Shauna has her own blog, and she wrote about our meeting. Click here to read what she wrote.

At 9 am we were off to Province House in downtown Halifax to meet with the Hon. Chris d’Entremont, Minister of Health of Nova Scotia. Minister d’Entremont gave us a tour of the historic building and formally expressed his support for the Cycle to Walk. While there, we also met Sergeant-at-Arms Ken Greenham. Now here is an example of what a small world this is: Ken is friends with Rudy and Jan Couture. I used to shovel Rudy and Jan’s driveway during the long winters in Whitehorse when I was young boy living on Firth Road. Ken was just absolutely ecstatic that the team came to meet with the Minister today. Our meeting made me realize that I need to thank Rudy for letting me shovel that driveway when I was younger. The work certainly assisted in developing my upper body strength. Thanks Rudy!

When the team left Province House, we immediately crossed the harbour bridge into Dartmouth to meet with MP Mike Savage. Before the meeting, I crossed paths with my old friend Ben Marston. Ben and I know one another from our work with the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association as well as competitions at the Défi Sportif in Montreal. It turns out Ben works out of the same building as Mr. Savage’s constituency office. Who would have thought there’d be two chance meetings like this in one day?

After our visit with Mr. Savage, who happily put his support behind Cycle to Walk, it was off to a nearby coffee shop for an interview before heading to lunch at the Rotary Club of Halifax-Northwest’s weekly meeting. President Dick Hodgson and everyone at the club meeting was just wonderful. Thank you for making us feel so welcome.

In the afternoon, the team met up with my friend Mireille who is visiting family here in the Maritimes. Mirielle donned a Cycle to Walk shirt and experienced the life of a road team member first-hand. It was great to see a familiar face and share some time with a good friend. Mireille joined us at the IWK Health Centre just before we started a presentation, and to my surprise, there were more familiar faces: Sharon and John Cooper from Whitehorse and former Yukoner Karen McNolty, who coordinated today’s event.

I’m amazed, thrilled and honoured that so many Yukoners and people who have connections to the Yukon have taken so much time out of their holidays or daily routines to demonstrate support for Cycle to Walk. It really means a lot to me and to the rest of the team – even Chris who is from Winnipeg.

After our formal presentation at the IWK, the team was given a great tour of the facility by our wonderful guides Kelly and Darlene. The IWK is a fantastic health facility for women, children and families, and it’s good to know that people who need help are receiving such good care. There were a number of family and play areas that we also got to visit, but don’t worry – we didn’t play with the toys for too long!

I can’t think of a better way to end the evening than how we did: at Dalhousie University speaking to a room full of young adults, medical school students, polio survivors, young parents, and one cute little baby. Alyson Horne-Douma who is the Liaison for Dalhousie’s Global Health Initiative, did a great job of reaching out and bringing people together for the presentation. This, my friends, is what I had envisioned when Cycle to Walk was born: a diverse community coming together as one to talk about a forgotten-about disease, and getting inspired to strive towards the eradication of polio. Even Doug and Joanne Linzey made the trip into Halifax from Canning to show their support!
Thank you so much for everyone’s support of Cycle to Walk. I have summarized our busy day in a couple of paragraphs, but it’s so important to thank Shelley and Pixie at C2W Headquarters and all of the hard working volunteers - particularly Carmen Gibbons for the Maritime leg of this journey - in Whitehorse and along the route who have sent and received tons of emails to ensure that these events can be set up, and that the en-route team is well looked after.

I’d like to send out a big thank you to all of our organizers! Your work is appreciated so very much!