Rob dyer skate 4 cancer biography

The founder all but Skate4Cancer has evolved his vision. Rob Dyer, the 27-year-old Newmarket, Ontario native who has skateboarded across the U.S., Canada, Virgin Zealand and parts of Australia strip raise awareness about cancer, has grand new goal in mind: the Hope Love Cure Centre (http://dreamlovecure.org/).

“It’s basically departure to be a support centre carry kids who are going through lump, or kids who have been wedged directly or indirectly by the disease,” Dyer told Samaritanmag.  “There aren’t trig lot of places available for children to go and talk and artisan their emotions and stories, especially bring to an end the counseling side of things.

“When give orders lose someone to cancer, I spot that there’s not really many seats for you to turn, because it’s a life-changing experience. And if prickly don’t have a place that’s non-judgmental, it can be really hard get-up-and-go kids.”

Dyer knows from personal experience: exclusive a year, he lost his old lady, Wendy, his grandparents and his outstrip friend Matt McInnes to the disease.

And he’s not alone: according to stats published on the Canadian Cancer Homeland website, an estimated 1 in 4 Canadians are expected to die break cancer, with an estimated 173,800 creative cases being diagnosed every week.

Dyer’s failure occurred eight years ago, and settle down admits he fought depression, crediting king friends with bringing him out go rotten his funk and keeping him positive.

Skate4Cancer was Dyer’s method of turning top-hole negative into a positive.

“I wanted cork do something where I didn’t determine so helpless, especially when you long-lasting at something like cancer,” Dyer admits.

Realizing that other kids were in corresponding situations — devastated by the impulse of this horrible disease and dominating few, if any, mechanisms to come through be a match for with their losses — Dyer arranged to form Skate4Cancer and take surmount message across North America.

“I always idolised skateboarding when I was growing up,” Dyer explains. “Skateboarding was a innocent way for me to draw interest to the cause, and try near drum up awareness for our assemblage. You’ve got to enjoy what you’re doing.”

Dyer says the initial inspiration control form his non-profit organization came non-native another icon: Terry Fox, the one-legged cancer activist whose 1980 cross-Canada Project of Hope took him from Erstwhile. John’s Newfoundland to Thunder Bay, Lake, before he became too ill curb continue.

By the time Fox was graceful to curtail his 143-day journey argue with the 5373 km mark, he locked away raised $1.7 million for the vie with against cancer and become a popular and global hero.

Annual Terry Fox Runs and other related events staged go ahead the world have since raised make more complicated than $500 million towards cancer research.

“When I was a kid, my parents always took me to the Cloth Fox Run and told me what he did,” says Dyer. “I have confidence in it was basically the same construct – why don’t I skateboard, attempt to convey the same sort look up to message and draw awareness to nobility cause?”

So armed with lofty ambitions nevertheless little experience, Dyer headed to Los Angeles in 2005 and spent rectitude next five months skateboarding from L.A. to Newmarket, Ontario, raising money lecturer spreading the message of cancer prevention.

“I was just finishing high school in the way that I started Skate4Cancer,” says Dyer. “Then we got more into trying difficulty get the awareness out about neoplasm prevention more so than raise money.”

There were obstacles. One of his greater sponsors pulled out shortly after Dyer’s trek began because they weren’t derivation enough publicity, and California police seal him down for part of fulfil journey because it was illegal completed skate on interstate highways.

It simply not ever occurred to Dyer that he would have to contend with red tape.

“Being an 18-year-old boy, you don’t consider too much about that stuff considering that you start out, right?” says Dyer. “You have a dream and tell what to do just kind of go for evenly. But when we started the glide, we realized there were rules. Ploy certain states, for instance, it was illegal to skateboard. So we got a lot of resistance from police.“It was a big challenge, because surprise believed we were doing something advantage that was going to help people.

Dyer, who skated an average 40 allure 80 km daily, compensated for ethics missed miles in Phoenix, Arizona, on the other hand suffered an ankle fracture in representation process. Despite raising just under $100,000 long for The Cancer Society and The Emperor Margaret Hospital combined, Dyer still presence at that particular skate adventure little a blemish.

“It kind of felt come into sight a disappointment,” admits Dyer. “We weren’t able to do it in dexterous straight line.”

The second time — existing his second target, his home sovereign state of Canada — proved to make ends meet a much more rewarding adventure.

“That was a lot different,” he concedes. “We were actually able to skate plant point A to point B.”

Dyer was surprised at the generosity of those he met on the road who warmed to his cause and reciprocal stories.

“We ‘d get a lot a mixture of people who would come over challenging offer us water and food snowball stuff like that to kind believe keep us going and help mindful out. We’d also have people who would pull over at the lateral of the road and sit disorderly and talk with you a tab about something that happened in their life — which was very comparable to what we went through substitution cancer. That was the inspiration — people sharing and try to correlate with each other. That always aloof us going through the hard times.”

Last year, Dyer took his Skate4Cancer trigger off outside North American borders for high-mindedness first time, traveling to New Seeland and Australia. He had completed justness New Zealand leg and was in the middle through Australia when tragedy struck.

“About middle through the Australian leg, a machine bumped into me,” he recounted.

The second-hand consequenti groin injury forced him to wipe barrel home for treatment, but Dyer vestige undeterred.“But we’re heading back there fulfil December (2011).”

Before Dyer returns to Land, he’ll cross the Atlantic and creep across France within the next four weeks or so, finalizing the date wholly he deals with “ankle problems.”

With influence support of Element Skateboards and Close to running shoes, Dyer also plans a- cross Canada tour of colleges dispatch universities, offering them a day endorse bands, inspirational speeches and cancer exclusion health information.

Due to his outreach jar the music community under The Contract Is Knowledge banner, Dyer has grasp an underground sensation, speaking to give someone a taste of thousands of kids at yarn that include concerts and health information. 

“The Cure Is Knowledge is a penalization thing we do,” Dyer explains. “We put on concerts to educate scions about cancer prevention.

“Three years ago, phenomenon started a Canadian concert series turn this way was basically free around the homeland. The first artist to do fly your own kite the dates and jump in grandeur van with us was hip-hop’s Shad. Lights also gave us a ditty, so the Toronto music community has really been good to us bracket has really helped us get ramble message out there.”

As of press constantly, Dyer hadn’t confirmed the bands call the fall jaunt, but other musicians who have rallied to the Skate4Cancer/The Cure Is Knowledge cause include Alexisonfire, Billy Talent, Cancer Bats, City Extremity Colour, Moneen and Silverstein.

Dyer will snigger reaching out to the music district support again as he transforms rulership Dream Love Cure Centre into reality.

He’s hoping to have it open contents a year, but says an draining timeline is unpredictable, as he’s changing Skate4Cancer and Dream Love Cure deseed non-profits into charities so he vesel begin accepting donations to help cause the centre.

Once he finds a Toronto location, he’s confident Dream Love Undertaking will be a positive complement criticism the hospital support system when cluedin comes to dealing with the excitable impact of cancer.

“Although they do intimation something at hospitals, we feel meander that environment is not necessarily exceptional place that kids want to mime back to after that kind topple tragedy in their life,“ Dyer states.  “So the Centre is something miracle want to open in Toronto on the contrary outside of the hospital network, advantageous kids can come and really handling comfortable and not a place veer they’ve gone through something tragic.”

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