For those who live around Desolation Sound, the end of the damp, grey mistiness and short days of winter is something to celebrate. In what has become an annual rite of spring, residents of Okeover Arm welcome the arrival of sun, blue skies and green shoots by combining their festivities with a good cause, hosting a Walk for ALS, which this year will take place on Saturday, April 6.
ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease) is a neurodegenerative disease for which there is still no known cause, no effective treatment and no cure; 80 per cent of those diagnosed die in great distress within two to five years. Since 2001 the ALS Society has been holding ALS Walks to help fund Canadian research into the disease and to support those suffering from the disease here in BC. The society helps with patient care equipment, home visits, community support and information services, and describes the walks as “celebrations of hope and of lives lived for those living with ALS, their family and friends.”
The Okeover walk began as an initiative by family and friends of a local ALS sufferer, Harley Hanson. In 2007 they had planned to participate in the ALS Walk that took place in Qualicum Beach, but Harley’s condition declined to the point where he could no longer make the journey. As Susan Hanson, Harley’s widow, explained, “Harley pointed out that we live in one of the most magnificent spots in the country, and every day we walk our dogs past glorious views of water, mountains and forest; why shouldn’t we host our own walk right here?”
Frankie Kellner, one of the organisers of the walk, recalls that the first walk was a low-key affair, but nevertheless raised $3,000. Since then the event has grown in scale and success, with the 2012 walk involving 150 people and quite a few dogs. It raised $19,000 from a combination of individual donations, sponsorship by Powell River businesses, an auction, a raffle, a special lunch laid on by David Bowes at the Laughing Oyster Restaurant and a reading by local author and CBC Radio broadcaster Grant Lawrence. The cumulative total for the six years of the Okeover Walk is now more than $70,000. As Wendy Toyer, executive director of ALS BC, commented, “This is the first Canadian ALS walk of the year, and my colleagues are extremely jealous that I get to accompany it in such a magnificent location. For such a small community to produce such a wonderful effort is a remarkable achievement.”
Selina Smith, a member of the walk committee, stresses that the event is intended, first and foremost, as a great day out for the whole family. There is no fee to participate, although personal sponsorship forms are available online. Anyone who simply wants to enjoy a weekend stroll in the spring sunshine along the side of Okeover Arm is welcome. The full walk is eight kilometres in length, but as it is a “there and back” route all participants can decide for themselves how far or how fast they want to go. Everybody starts together, led out of the Laughing Oyster car park by bagpipes and drums, at 10 am. The power walkers, who go the whole way at full speed, tend to arrive back alongside the families with young children or baby strollers who have only gone a short way along the route.
Anybody wishing to join in celebrating the arrival of spring on the west coast and enjoy the natural splendour of Okeover Arm, all while giving much-needed support and hope to present and future sufferers from a terrible disease, can register in advance online or just show up at 9 am on Saturday, April 6 at the restaurant at the end of Malaspina Road.
