One crack at the Kids Cancer Care Ride of Courage wasn’t enough for the Heidt family. There might not be such a thing as “enough” for the Heidts. July 10 to 12, the Heidts, the rest of their team (the Cyclepaths) and many other cyclists will take to the Alberta foothills. They’ll all test their endurance for the cause on either a three-day, two-day or one-day journey. And dollars raised send kids affected by cancer to Kids Cancer Care’s Camp Kindle in Water Valley, Alta. Shane and Lori Heidt never figured on their young son, Colton, getting cancer. The thought it might even be a possibility never entered either parent’s mind. But Colton was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia only about a week after his eighth birthday. According to Lori, getting dealt that hand “is just this huge whirlwind.” “You don’t know how it’s going to go,” she said. “You don’t really know anything. “Your world is just kind of turned upside down.” Now 10, Colton is “all done his treatment” and “doing really well,” Shane said, noting his son’s due to see the oncologist next in June. But to get to now, Colton went through eight months of intense chemotherapy followed by daily chemo pills. He basically missed Grade 2, and his parents made use of tutors and peer programming. That’s when they found Kids Cancer Care—and learned about the Ride of Courage. “We said we needed to give back to this community and thought this was probably one of the best ways of doing it,” Shane said. “We went from, like, zero biking at all to ‘Let’s decide to do this ride’; we bought new bikes, we trained.” Last year was the Heidts’ first. They, along with a couple of other cyclists on their team, raised $20,000 and fought through the Saturday. They have a bigger team of eight this year, and are hoping to match or beat their previous accomplishment. “Kids Cancer Care is such an amazing organization,” Lori said. “Once you go through this, you can’t not do anything you can to support them.” “When you have a kid that’s gone through it, and you see the support that’s all around for the kiddos and the parents, you want to give that back,” Shane said. Information on how to fundraise for or donate to the 2026 Ride of Courage is available at kidscancercare.ab.ca. The tour of the foothills includes accommodations, meals, a jersey and more, Kids Cancer Care said. Regular supporters Spur Petroleum and Rob and Kathy Motherwell will match the first $70,000 raised.
