Against the Wind to Improve Ovarian Cancer Outcomes
November 14, 2025
Found in Breast Cancer, Hereditary Cancer, Ovarian Cancer
BC Cancer “moved mountains” to ensure a breast cancer diagnosis didn’t stand in the way of Hannah and Christian Jones’ wedding. In gratitude, Christian tackled some challenging landscape of his own — a 925 km self-supported bikepacking expedition across Iceland’s Westfjords to raise funds for cancer research.
“Cancer has cast a long shadow over Hannah’s life, reaching back to her childhood. Her mother battled through two rounds of breast cancer, and she lost her grandmother to the disease,” says Christian Jones.
But nothing prepared the family for 2023, when Hannah, 29, and her sister Bethany, 25, were both diagnosed with breast cancer. Both had tested positive for a BRCA gene mutation but even with the increased hereditary risk, their chances of developing breast cancer before age 30 was only 3%.
For Hannah and Christian, the diagnosis came just two months prior to their June nuptials in Spain.
“All of our guests had bought their plane tickets and accommodation. We’d paid all the vendors. Initially, we were too afraid to tell anyone,” recalls Christian.
Hannah’s oncologist “moved mountains” to ensure the wedding could take place, says Christian — scheduling Hannah for an immediate lumpectomy, which allowed her to heal in time to travel and safely delay more invasive treatment.
After Bethany was diagnosed in August, the sisters faced double mastectomies, chemotherapy and fertility preservation treatments together. Both are now cancer-free, but as BRCA carriers their risk of developing ovarian cancer is 50%.
“While breast cancer survival rates have improved thanks to research, ovarian cancer remains vastly underfunded with limited treatment options,” says Christian, and unfortunately seven in 10 women won’t live five years past diagnosis.
Christian and Matt tackled extreme weather and wind in Iceland to raise funds for ovarian cancer research.
In August 2025, Christian and his friend, Matt Braun — who built their custom bikes — raised $28,000 through the Westfjord Charity Ride to help fuel advances in early detection and treatment so that future generations can live without the fear of ovarian cancer.
The nine-day grueling ride through one of Iceland’s most remote regions included traversing rough terrain, unpredictable weather and over 15,000 metres of elevation gain.
“It’s a part of the country that even Icelandic people don’t really visit because it is so inhospitable and a challenge to get around,” says Christian.
The cycling duo became known as ‘the Crazy Canadians’ after battling flattening winds that at times reduced their speed to just 7 km an hour. Forced to seek shelter in a roadside ditch and push on for hours at a crawl, they finally rolled into town —only to be told by incredulous locals that the area was under a ‘code orange’ do-not-travel advisory.
But for Christian there’s a powerful metaphor in facing gale-force winds to honour his wife and sister-in-law’s strength and perseverance and to raise funds for life-saving B.C.-led cancer research and care.
“Both girls were absolute soldiers during the whole ordeal. And I was blown away by the level of care and treatment that BC Cancer provided — it’s just one of the reasons I wanted to give back.”
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