It's no surprise that people usually care a lot more about a cause when they or someone they know has been affected.
I met Geoff and Kassia during one of his hospital stays, and they are the reason I'm doing this fundraiser.
Geoff was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his colon in 2017. Four years later, two additional bowel resections, a liver resection, learning to live with an ileostomy and a nephrostomy, countless rounds of chemotherapy and dozens of rounds of radiation treatments later, Geoff’s cancer had progressed to stage IV and was considered aggressive and terminal. Sadly, Geoff died in November of 2021, leaving behind his wife Kassia, countless friends, his parents and in-laws and his three cats, at the too-young age of 38.
I had the pleasure of meeting Geoff and Kassia, and was deeply moved by their love, and Kassia's grief after his death.
Geoff liked:
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Cooking and learning new recipes
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Cats
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Staying informed on current events
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Reading fiction
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Bike rides
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Teaching (he's a university professor)
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Eating Tacos
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Ballroom dance
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Playing Dungeons and Dragons
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Travelling (Spain was his favorite destination
Geoff also loved hot sauce! Anything spicy really, but especially hot sauce. He loved eating it, he loved making it. He even tried to grow a pepper once (it didn’t go well). And the jokes basically write themselves when you think about a dude obsessed with hot sauce who literally had to have his butthole surgically removed. When you look at it that way, this hot sauce eating fundraiser was inevitable.
The Ring of Fire Fundraiser is being organized by Geoff’s wife, Kassia Hollis-Haynes, to honor her hot sauce loving husband, and to raise funds for colorectal research so all those facing bowel cancer have the best chance of survival. Ideally, no one should have to face what they had to face. And research is the only way to get there.
I don't tolerate spicy food well. I like mildly hot, hot wings dipped in ranch. Suffering through different hot sauces that I can stop eating any time is a mild discomfort compared to what people who have colorectal cancer, and their families, go through. So help me, help them, by giving a small donation!
The Ring of Fire Fundraiser is a hot sauce eating event in support of colorectal cancer research. Participants challenge themselves to a marathon of pain as they battle 10 hot wings, each with a spicer sauce than the last, while raising money for colorectal cancer research in Alberta.
Colorectal cancer (aka: bowel cancer, colon cancer) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada and it is one of leading causes of death from cancer for both men and women in Canada. On average, 67 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer every single day. That’s not okay.
The Ring of Fire fundraiser is a hot sauce eating
competition, but the fundraising format is similar to any
other charity walk or run...just with hot wings. Very hot
wings. A marathon of pain, if you will. The general format is:
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68 Canadians are diagnosed every single day with colon cancer. We need to fund research to help lower that number. With your help we can contribute to that research funding.
Support and donate:
- Find a participant or team you want to support
- Hit that "Contribute" button and pledge them!
- Follow us on Instagramand encourage more people to get involved
