June 8, 2025
- mikepearsonsafety
- Jun 8
- 2 min read
People are friggin’ amazing. And it seems that especially applies to people living with ALS (and their loved ones).
Thursday afternoon, a man (who we soon learned was Warren) came over to our campsite to ask Mike about Tri’ing after seeing our truck and trailer. His wife Bonnie was diagnosed with ALS December 2024 and the retirement community they live in were holding a fundraiser walk for ALS Friday morning. We were quickly invited to join the walk, and the BBQ after. We were amazed that once again an opportunity to support people living with ALS presented itself. We looked forward to meeting the group the next morning.
Then our daughter Sydney showed up at our campsite Thursday night, a day early! What a great surprise!! (Too busy hugging and crying to take a picture)
Friday morning we all headed over the Cottages at Osoyoos Lake, ready to walk. Movin' our Buns for Bonnie. We were totally blown away by the group of people who were doing what they could to support their wonderful friend Bonnie. About 50 people came out to walk around the retirement community, raising over $11,000 in support of their dear friend! We were welcomed with open arms, with many folks asking what we were doing, and how we came to be at their walk. We were once again reminded of how important family, friends and community are. We are sure this will not be the last time.
Saturday we were up bright and early for Race #4. The morning was warm, promising to be hot later on. A good wind was blowing, resulting in waves on the lake, and a headwind on the bike. Many of our friends from Vernon joined us, competing in the longer race and racing in the same “Tri’ing” ‘kit’ (aka racing clothes) as we do.
As each of us came across the finish line, the race announcer mentioned that we were “Tri’ing to End ALS” as a fundraiser. Donna spoke briefly at the awards ceremony – we are doing our best to get the word out!
Back to the importance of family, friends and community – after cheering everyone across the finish line, and snapping a few Tri’ing Team pics, we all gathered at our campsite for smokies, snacks, ‘little’ beer, awesome shortbread cookies and even better company. We miss our family and training buddies but we know they’re with us every step of our 17 race journey!
