Most six-year-old boys, when asked what they want for their birthday, usually respond with something that transforms or has wheels on it. But not Nathan Marsh.
The Marsh family, Joel and Allison of St. Albert, recently sat down with their son to ask him what he wanted for his birthday.
“He had originally asked for an Xbox,” Allison said Wednesday. The parents told their son, sorry, that’s not going to happen. They encouraged him to go back to the drawing board.
They were caught off guard by what he said next.
“He said he wanted to ride to conquer cancer,” said Allison.
Nathan had a very good reason to conquer cancer, noted his mom, and it had to do with his buddy and sister, four-year-old Erin.
Erin developed bilateral retinoblastoma, a form of eye cancer, when she was only seven-and-a-half months old. She lost her eye to cancer at an age when most infants can’t even walk yet.
Since then Allison herself participated in the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer, a 250 kilometre road race that raises funds for cancer-fighting programs and research. Both her children had watched their mom training for the race and asked if they could also ride.
Allison said obviously such a tough competition was too much for little kids.
But Nathan held his Mini Ride to Conquer Cancer July 9 around the neighbourhood.
“We were both pretty surprised, really impressed,” said Allison. “We wanted to do anything we could to help him do that.”
Nathan originally said he wanted to do 20 laps and collect pledges. His dad Joel works for GFS, and the company promised Nathan that if he did 21 laps, they’d buy him a free pizza. He finished with a total of 21 kilometres travelled in three hours.
“It was fantastic,” said Allison. “He did 21 laps around the neighbourhood.”
His sister wanted to help out, but she may have to wait for another day.
Allison said Nathan collected $1,175 in pledges from family and friends.
“We’ve always known that Nathan has a big heart,” said Joel. “But even we were surprised when he told us what he wanted to do to celebrate his birthday. We’re just so proud of him.”
Nathan, as with most altruists, was humble.
“I want kids who have cancer to feel better and I want the doctors to find out new ways to get rid of it,” he said.
“And riding my bike is fun.”
Allison noted the funds raised will be donated to the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
