The timing was serendipitous when Canadian gold-medal Paralympian Rick Hansen visited Columbia Elementary a day before the students’ annual run-a-thon to support a classmate undergoing cancer treatments.
Hansen spoke about determination, social change and being a difference maker in the community to the classmates of 6-year-old Myla Ganzeveld, who was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of cancer, in February.
Ganzeveld, who is currently undergoing radiation treatments in Seattle, was pleased to hear of the support from her class.
“Thank you for the fundraisers. I feel happy and sad because I don’t get to see you guys, I just love how people are being nice to me. I’m excited for my friends to come to my house when I’m home,” Ganzeveld said.
The support from the community has been overwhelming for Jen Levesque, Myla’s mother.
Levesque said her daughter was “doing amazing” after her 14th radiation treatment on Wednesday. Her last session is set for June 16, and the family hopes to return home around the third week of June.
The donations and support from the community have helped bring the family together in Seattle, a big difference-maker for Levesque and her daughter.
“It makes a huge impact, you see the light in her eyes. She lights up a room now, she’s just so happy to have so much family visiting. She’s laughing and playing, it’s just making her feel like she’s home. We’re not home, but we’re home because we have the family surrounding us. Everyone who has helped fundraise has made that happen,” Levesque said. “I can’t thank everyone enough. All the support is really helping the family stay together.”
Ganzeveld’s sister, Vanelle, and grandmother, Jeannie Lajoie, attended Hansen’s presentation on Wednesday where the family was given a recognition award for courage from the Rick Hansen Foundation.
Vanelle led the annual run-a-thon at Columbia on Thursday where all the proceeds raised by students and pledges from their families went towards her family and sister.
“Congratulations to you because you’re all difference makers and I’m so proud of you,” Hansen told the packed gym of students.
The school is part of Hansen’s difference makers program and it was by chance that the visit from Hansen was arranged just a day before the run.
“We were so excited and it just happened to come at the same time as we’ve been planning our run-a-thon for the little girl who has cancer. We’re running for Myla,” said Jan Ramsey, principal of Columbia School
She said the proceeds from the annual run usually goes to various causes including building wells in Africa and going towards foster care, this year however, the funds are all going to Myla and her family.
The difference makers program includes 3,000 schools across Canada encouraging youth to set goals, make a difference and build an accessible and inclusive Canada and world.
“We have teachers all across the country to spread the ongoing message of my original Man in Motion tour and the work that I currently do with my foundation is to remove barriers, change attitudes and liberate potential,” Hansen said.
Hansen, who took his wheelchair around the world for the Man in Motion tour to promote inclusion and accessibility in 1985, talked to students about hard work and making a difference in their community and answered questions from students about his trip around the world.
Last week marked the 28-year anniversary of the completion of Hansen’s Man in Motion tour, and the message is one that continues to permeate today.
“Little did I know that the end of my tour would be the beginning of a global journey and life journey because I had no idea the size of the problem and how challenging it is to make social change. It doesn’t happen in a short time frame, it takes decades and generations,” Hansen said.
“We still have a long way to go as far as accessibility with people with disabilities, so I try my best to keep it moving forward.”
“The idea of connecting people around the world to collaborate on changing attitudes and removing barriers is a real possibility which can accelerate change for the generations to come,” Hansen said.
He made his way around the globe before many of the students he now speaks to were alive, however they are just as receptive to the message as previous generations.
“What’s amazing for me is that here are kids who were never around for the original Man in Motion tour, but yet they so intuitively understand what we were trying to do and what we’re continuing to work on,” Hansen said. “The kids are so open. One of the greatest accomplishments in Canada is the successes of our education system. Teaching our youth about acceptance and inclusion and social responsibility.”
