Kym Menzies

Team MACA 2023

“I'm determined to complete the Ride.”

In 2015, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Despite surgeries and treatments, the cancer spread to my right lung and resulted in Transverse Myelitis causing paraplegia. The doctors gave me five years, but I plan on surpassing their expectations. I have unfinished business, including participating in the Ride.

Last year, my wife Jan and I planned to ride for the first time, but I ended up in the hospital due to a loss of leg sensation. My condition worsened, leading to an emergency bowel operation that saved my life. However, the ongoing effects of Transverse Myelitis did mean I would spend the next five and a half months in hospital.

 Through the support of my family and the wonderful care by the staff at Fiona Stanley Hospital and Joondalup Health Campus I am now home and looking forward to the Ride. I'm now relearning how to walk and perform daily tasks. It's a struggle, but I'm resilient. This year, with my lovely Jan by my side, I'm determined to complete the Ride and join my fellow riders.

Sabrina Penney

“We have our own reasons for riding, and we support each other. We are fighting our own fight together.”

For my first Ride I will be cycling alongside my dad who has ridden for six years to honour my grandfather, Georgie who passed away when I was 13. He was one of my most favourite humans in the world.  He lived life loudly and never missed a chance to tell my brothers and I how much he loved us.

Losing Granddad Georgie to cancer was heartbreaking. Then to lose my other Granddad Barry several years later was devastating. Granddad Barry was the captain of our ship, family was everything to him.

I now want to get involved in the fight against cancer. I’m not a scientist or a millionaire or a genius of any kind but I can help by fundraising for the Ride. My hope is raising funds for the Perkins will bring us closer to finding new therapies or better cancer detection methods.

I’m excited to join and be supported by the Ride community, and I can’t wait for that euphoric feeling crossing the finishing line. But more than anything, I just want to do my Granddads proud.

Gary Rowles

Team Captain, Bush Bikers

“I wouldn’t be here without medical research.”

I survived prostate cancer and I know that’s because of research. It’s why I joined the Ride in 2018 with my team the Bush Bikers. Because it’s only through ongoing medical research that we can beat this disease. My team changes each year yet for each member, cancer has touched all our families. I sadly lost my Dad, teammate Damien’s wife successfully battled ovarian cancer and Neil’s wife Teresa lost both of her parents at a young age. This needs to stop. Riding in the Cancer 200 is a way to mobilise the community to support vital funding for WA cancer research.

Each member has their own cancer story to tell, and being a small community team and firm friends, we have supported each other throughout our journeys. The Ride is our way of not letting cancer win by making sure Perkins researchers can reduce the impact of treatments and increase survival rates. It’s also a fantastic weekend. It’s incredibly well-organised, fun and we cherish the camaraderie between the riders as we share the highs and lows.

Damian Wallace

Team MacMahon

“The Ride has been described as a selfless act, but to be honest it’s so rewarding.”

I don’t think I realised what I was getting myself into when I first joined Team MacMahon in 2019. I thought it may have just been a fun physical charity event but what I quickly found out was that the Cancer 200 Ride community is incredibly supportive. It goes beyond cycling 200km over two days, it’s an opportunity to surround yourself with other passionate people who champion such a significant cause.

With that in mind, whenever I meet someone new, I speak about the cause and ask for their support. And most people are only too happy to donate!

Fundraising for cancer research, when I know that it will directly contribute to Perkins researchers is incredibly rewarding. With continued support they will hopefully discover new treatments that may lead to cancer being non-lethal.

John Moralee

Team Captain, Team MinRes

“The ride makes me feel closer to my Mum.”

When my beloved mum was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, she was one of the early recipients of a new drug Herceptin. With this targeted therapy she made an incredible recovery and was in remission for 10 years before the cancer came back. Without that new drug, we may not have had as many more years together as we did. Mum showed me the importance of embracing the positive side of life, and now as I ride in tandem with my wife Lindsey, I carry her strength with me to fight cancer. 

Mum was my first reason to ride and always will be.

I don’t want anyone else to feel the heartache of cancer so joining the Ride as Team Captain of MinRes is my way to help Perkin researchers fight cancer, so no individual has too. It’s also amazing to belong to a group of big-hearted, like-minded people and friends who all have a common goal. And there is nothing like the feeling of crossing the finish line together.

Ceri Cummings

Team Captain, Team Bolt Fitness

“I know that true wealth is health.”

 I am a gym owner. I live a healthy active life, but I also have regular check-ups with my doctor if anything concerns me. I do this because both of my grandfathers, my gran and my dad were diagnosed with cancer. My dad survived bowel cancer, but the experience changed him, and he hasn’t been able to enjoy the things that used to make him happy. In my gym, we have members living with cancer others who have survived and others who are supporting loved ones. I see the devastation cancer causes every day.

That is why I am determined to do what I can by fundraising for the Ride. Because if the money I raise for cancer research at the Perkins can help one person live a longer, healthier life, then I’m happy.

 The Ride is such a special event, even though there are 1,500 riders it feels like we are all on the same team when we ride. Whether in a team or riding solo there’s always a smile to see and a person to be inspired by.

Nicky Copper

Team Ride My Wheel

“Cancer has given me so much courage.”

After years of my sister asking me to get a pap smear, I went in January 2019.

I then went on my planned months long holiday to Europe. On my return there was a letter waiting for me was a letter to contact the doctor to discuss the results. I was told the pap smear had yielded abnormal results. Several weeks later after a colposcopy and biopsy, the results came back, and my life abruptly changed.

I was numb but when I had to tell my partner, parents and sister, it became devastatingly real.

My partner and I asked my doctors if we could try for a baby, but unfortunately, time was not on our side, and I had to undergo a radical hysterectomy. But doing that meant I was spared chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Thankfully in February, I received all clear, but the trauma remains. The surgery, four years of anxiety and the impact this disease had on my loved ones linger, but cancer has also given me courage. I have switched careers to something that gives me joy and I am even completing my first Ironman this year!

I am riding because more than anything, I want to raise awareness of the importance of cancer research and cancer screening. My cancer allows me to have important conversations with friends, family and colleagues. And by joining the ride, it’s a way to give back to the research that I have so benefitted from.

Bec Lawry

Team Perkins

“I want to show my girls nothing is impossible if you put your mind it.”

I am a first-time rider. I had a friend who is a veteran rider and I thought what they were doing was great. My low iron levels revealed that I had colon cancer in 2020. I couldn’t believe it. I was 33 with a young family and the thought of the journey ahead terrified me.

My treatment has been tough. It’s included a peritonectomy and HIPEC chemo along with all the scans and a year of immunotherapy. A subsequent second peritonectomy found that my cancer has now spread extensively.

My life is now in stasis as I continue to fight against the cancer and the side effects of my treatment. Frustratingly this has also meant I am unable to work which has been very hard to accept.

I decided to join the Ride for myself and my family. I want to show my girls that nothing is impossible, and Mum’s going to fight this awful disease the best she can.

It’s my hope that I can raise awareness and money for cancer research so that others may not go through this awful disease. Every little bit counts, and I’m determined to get out there and join other riders on Ride weekend.