You work in policing, you see the darker side of life a lot of the time.
If you let it, it gets to you after a while, makes a person think the world really is an unpleasant place.
But Victoria Const. Dawndra Tolsma figures she has the antidote to that kind of thinking now. It was acquired over two weeks and 1,000 kilometres of hardtop on the Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock.
From Port Alice to Victoria, Tolsma and 20 other cycling team members met with children battling the disease, talked to the families struggling to cope, and witnessed the generosity of the communities standing behind all of them.
"I work in a profession that can lead you to becoming pretty cynical if you get caught up in your day-to-day stuff," Tolsma said at the end of the tour yesterday "But when you're dealing with these kids, who are dealing with so much more, and those families that are struggling to get through that, and then we go to these little communities and they come together ... it just blows me away.
"And you go, 'OK, you know what? Life really is a good thing and there's no reason to be cynical and get up caught up in just the bad things in life.'"
The experience built from the first day, she said, when the tiny mill town of Port Alice, despite being ravaged by the current economic downturn, donated more than $28,000 to the cause.
"I was blown out of my socks," Tolsma said.
The story repeated itself down the Island as hundreds of people gave to cancer research and programs like Camp Goodtimes that help children with cancer and their families. The Canadian Cancer Society said late yesterday the fundraising total for the Tour de Rock was $1.3 million.
"Going all through the communities on Vancouver Island we have been remarkably surprised at how the fundraising has stayed stellar," said Rena Stackhouse, a fundraising co-ordinator with the Canadian Cancer Society.
"There are some communities that we know have been hit hard ... and those communities have just stepped up to the plate as well."
People have a long memory when it comes to such a deadly disease, and Tolsma said her memories of the tour and the survivors she met will linger just as long.
"It's been an amazing journey that will absolutely affect the rest of my life," she said.
