For Lone with Love

In his third Capilano Volkswagen Cypress Challenge, presented by Glotman•Simpson Cycling, this past July — but his first since losing his wife, Lone, to pancreatic cancer — Chris Armstrong personally raised an incredible $300,000, pushing the 17-year annual cycling event over the $5 million milestone.

Chris’s efforts were in honour of Lone’s wish that he continue to support pancreatic cancer research and care in B.C., specifically the work of her oncologist Dr. Dan Renouf.

“She would have done anything for that man,” says Chris of Dr. Renouf, whom he and Lone got to know after she was diagnosed in April 2022.

The Lone Rangers were one of 30 teams (600 riders) to make the 12-km climb up Cypress Mountain in 2024, raising a record $800,000 to support Pancreas Centre BC (PCBC), a multi-disciplinary coalition of experts working to develop more effective treatments for the 800 people diagnosed each year in B.C.

Co-led by Dr. Renouf, PCBC has made significant breakthroughs in understanding the disease, including methods to improve outcomes through immunotherapy, advance early detection and identify patients with genetic risk. PCBC’s Rapid Access Clinic is also streamlining patient care, reducing the time between diagnosis and treatment for patients.

The swell of support was overwhelming, but not surprising to anyone who knew Lone, says Chris. “More than 60 people — including our dentist — rode up that hill for Lone and in aid of pancreatic cancer research. And I expect many of them will do it again next year.”

For his family, Chris says, “it’s all part of healing — which may last a lifetime” and he’ll continue to make the climb every year so that others won’t have to lose people they love to the disease.