Phil Anzarut says he’s feeling great and ready to ride. Shown with him are his wife Alissa and three children, from left to right, Rina, Noah and Marlo.
The Donor: Phil Anzarut
The Gift: Raising $80,000 and climbing
The Cause: The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer
A couple of years ago, a friend asked Phil Anzarut whether he would like to participate in the annual Quebec Ride to Conquer Cancer, a fundraising event that involves cycling from Montreal to Quebec City over two days.
"I just thought it would be a fun thing to do," Mr. Anzarut recalled from Montreal, where he is a partner with BDC Venture Capital. But a few months later, he began feeling tired and noticed some blood in his urine. He ended up having surgery in February, 2012, where doctors discovered he had urachal cancer, a rare type of bladder cancer that affects the urachus tube that runs to the belly button and normally shrivels after birth. The disease was so unusual, affecting just 0.2 per cent of people with bladder cancer, that doctors weren't certain whether it would return. So Mr. Anzarut went through three months of chemotherapy, finishing in June, 2012.
By September, he felt good enough to resume cycling. Once again, his friend asked if he wanted to do the Ride to Conquer Cancer. "I said sure," Mr. Anzarut recalled.
He began reaching out to friends and family for donations, hoping to raise $3,500. Within a few weeks, he had raised more than $20,000 and a group of friends asked to join him in the ride as a team. The group, dubbed Bikus Urachus, has now raised $80,000.
The Ride starts July 6, just over a year after he finished chemotherapy. "It has been one year and I'm feeling good," he said. "The Ride is going to be a fantastic experience."
Paul Waldie