Making the Climb for Pancreatic Cancer — as a Family
June 10, 2025
Found in Cypress Challenge, Hereditary Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer
Life is full of meaningful connections that may not seem significant in the moment — but for Anthony Thomas’ family they’re all coming together during their first time participating in the Capilano Volkswagen Cypress Challenge presented by Glotman•Simpson Cycling.
“I’d never even heard of the Cypress Challenge — and we live just below the mountain in West Vancouver,” admits Anthony, who is an avid cyclist and has made the climb many times on his own.
“And funnily enough, my roommate in Toronto was Isabelle Glotman, and her mom and dad, Myriam and Geoff Glotman, founded the event in 2008,” says Anthony’s daughter Maddi.
These brushes with the iconic ride to raise awareness and funds for pancreatic cancer research and care at BC Cancer hit home when Anthony was diagnosed with the disease last September.
“If you Google pancreatic cancer Stage 4, it’s a pretty dim prognosis,” says Anthony of the disease which is difficult to detect at an early stage and resistant to treatment, resulting in only 10% (80 of the 800 people diagnosed each year in B.C.) projected to live five year’s past diagnosis.
Anthony is a retired lawyer, with over 30 years’ experience handling complex personal injury claims, and his wife, Carolyn Bliss, is a retired physiotherapist — so they’re used to being on the other side of supporting people facing life-altering medical issues. And so, when Anthony was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer after undergoing a CT scan for pain due to a suspected kidney stone, the close-knit family turned to each other.
“For anyone going through this, family is everything. I really feel very fortunate to have Carolyn and the girls. They’ve been super supportive, a real rock for me.”
Anthony has neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, a rare disease that he’s grateful has a more favourable prognosis than other types of pancreatic cancer.
“I was about to start chemotherapy, but when a biopsy showed I had neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer I went straight to surgery. It was successful and they removed all of the cancer from my pancreas and most of it from my liver. So now I’m on monthly chemotherapy injections and I feel completely fine. It’s a very minor thing to have to deal with, and its all because of medical science advances in cancer treatment.”
Along with their youngest daughter, Emily, who is an emergency room social worker in North Vancouver, they’re giving back to help fuel the research Anthony’s benefitted from by participating in the Cypress Challenge in July.
“We really want to be a part of helping others who are going through the same thing,” says Anthony.
A will and estates lawyer in Toronto, Maddi will be flying home in July to cheer her parents and sister on but without hilly terrain to train on she’s focused on fundraising for Team AT.
Emily and her dad, Anthony.
“Emily and I posted on social media, and we managed to raise $5,000 in one go. I think people were really touched by our story. A lot of people our age, in their 20s, don’t understand how serious pancreatic cancer is. My parent’s generation all know someone who has passed away from it. To bring some awareness to the disease for our generation has felt meaningful.”
In addition to raising funds for BC Cancer’s groundbreaking pancreatic cancer research — such as the discovery that the disease is 10 different subtypes — and initiatives like the Rapid Access Clinic, which streamlines patient care to significantly reduce the time between diagnosis and treatment, Maddi and Emily are motivated to be supporting advancements and in early detection and screening for people at high hereditary risk of pancreatic cancer.
“Through our family doctor, we qualified for BC Cancer’s Hereditary Cancer Program, and we feel very grateful to have access to this and all the support that comes with it,” says Maddi.
But the Cypress Challenge is more just a fundraiser — it’s a community from which people impacted by pancreatic cancer draw strength, says Anthony. “I’m expecting to see a number of our friends there, and I want it to be a celebration. Everybody who rides and helps with donations is doing something positive, I want to focus on that.”
And unlike the other times Anthony has made the 12-km climb, on July 27 it won’t be about reaching the summit — for his family it will be about honouring his journey, fuelling hope, and standing together for a future where more families have the chance to do the same.
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