Support My Ride to Conquer Cancer?

Welcome to Jackie's Personal Page! The Sunsuper Ride to Conquer Cancer benefiting the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR), is a cycling journey throughout the scenic countryside of Western Australia that I'm embarking on to fight cancer. It will be a challenge in a number of ways, but with my bike, my helmet, and your generosity, a real impact will be made!

MACA the company where Michael my hubby works for, is proud to be the Powered By Sponsor of The Sunsuper Ride to Conquer Cancer  a 200km bike ride scheduled to take place on 20-21 October 2012 to raise money for Cancer research.  Michael and I have joined Team MACA and will participate in the Ride to Conquer Cancer in October.

Michael and I are not fit and have never done anything like this before. In fact never owned a bike or ridden a bike since High School.  But we believe that this is a very worthwhile cause and what a way to challenge ourselves!  We realize that we will go through a lot of pain, sweat and tears during the ride but this would be nothing compared to what Michael's youngest sister went through.  What is driving us to do this is the story of Michael's sister Beverley who fought hard to beat Cancer and sadly lost her battle.  The courage Beverley displayed was incredible and the pain she went through was heartbreaking.  Although we have both lost loved ones to Cancer, Beverley's story is worth a read. We encourage you to read our story below as it is truly an inspiration for us and hopefully you, to sponsor us for this worthwhile cause. Our goal is to raise $2,500 each! 

My Sister's Fight

Michael's youngest sister passed away after battling with Cancer at the age of 11 and then again at 16.  Michaels sister Beverley Anne Stacey was diagnosed with Bone Cancer at the age of 11 years.  She fought it with treatment, a huge amount of faith in the Church and Our Lady, Mother Mary and huge amount of family support.  Michael and I were only dating at the time and it was amazing to see what hurdles Beverley had to overcome to fight it! At such a young age, she was a true inspiration!!

Michael and I had planned to get married on 28 December 1985. Beverley was 16 at the time and was to be one of our bridesmaid.  Who was to know that with all our excitement about the wedding and the arrangements, we would get the bad news! Beverley after nearly reaching her 5 year remission the cancer had returned with a vengeance in other parts of her body!!!  Once again Beverley wanted to fight it until she found out that there were no guarantees this time, that the Cancer could be cured!  We wanted Beverley to continue to fight and encouraged her to keep going, she did it once before, she can do it again!!! 

With our wedding already planned before we all received the bad news Michael and I wanted to postpone the wedding with the hope that Beverley would bounce back like she did before!  After discussing it with Beverley, she insisted we go ahead with our wedding and somehow she would still be our bridesmaid no matter what.  We continued with our wedding plans and continuously included Beverley in our plans with every detail of the Bridesmaid outfit from head to toe, encouraging her all the way to get better!  It was December 1985 and by this time Beverley was confined to her bed and in so much pain, you could see the pain in her eyes.  Although she never did complain!!! 

It was Saturday 28 December 1985 our big day, and just like a typical Bride, I was fashionably late to the Church.  Michael and I were with Beverley the night before and we knew there was no way she would make it to the Church and we promised her we would visit her after the ceremony, although we were both silently hopeful that we may see her at the Church the next morning!!! 

I arrived at the Church and Michael and I were standing at the alter waiting for the Priest to commence the ceremony when the Priest asked us to move to one side. We both moved and turned around, only to see our beautiful Beverley fully dressed in the Bridesmaid outfit, being pushed in a wheelchair by her mum and dad!  To this day, when I think about that time, that moment, even while writing this story, I can't help but get emotional as I remember how beautiful she looked and sadly how much pain I could see in her face!!  To think she went through all that to keep her promise, to be at our wedding!  There was not a dry eye in the whole Church!!  We kept Beverley by our side throughout the whole ceremony and she is in all our wedding photos at the church!   

Michael and I had been married two weeks and not a day went by that we didn't see Beverley.  She was still fighting her cancer whilst living at home as the doctors and hospital could not help her anymore! 

It was an early warm Sunday morning on 18 January 1986 when we received the call from Michael's parents to say that our beautiful Beverley passed away in her sleep!  To this day we will always remember her as a Loving, Positive, Happy, Energetic, Caring person who loved life and a fighter of this dreaded disease.  Beverley's memory will live on in our lives and in our three beautiful daughters in particular our eldest daughter Beverley Theresa Stacey whom we named after Michael's sister Beverley. 

Your sponsorship won't bring Beverley back or anyone else we have lost through Cancer, but it will help those who are fighting this dreaded disease and continue to assist with reasearch to conquer it in the future!

Contribute to this history-making event with a donation. Funds raised in The Sunsuper Ride to Conquer Cancer will support groundbreaking, critical cancer research being undertaken at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, Western Australia's premier adult medical research institute, investigating the genetic and environmental causes of a range of diseases.


Thank you in advance for your help. Jackie