Stephen Vance, Staff
Each year the Heart & Stroke Big Bike visits Meaford, and enthusiastic teams of local residents take the 30-seat vehicle for a spin to raise money for the organization. Among the dozens of participants at this year’s event, which took place on Wednesday, May 4, was a recent heart attack survivor.
Jeff Almond, 49, who was part of the Bill’s Valu-Mart team for this year’s Big Bike event, suffered a heart attack just four months ago on New Year’s Eve. Though he has yet to return to work, participating in the event with his co-workers was special for him, and it was an opportunity to express thanks to the Heart & Stroke Foundation, as well as the various healthcare workers who have helped him on his journey to recovery.
“The biggest thing for me was the denial that it was actually happening,” Almond told The Independent as he recalled the day of the heart attack. “I knew I was in trouble, so I made a 9-1-1 call, and the care I got right from the time they picked me up to the care at the Owen Sound Hospital, and beyond that down in Kitchener was just incredible. I really appreciate everything they did.”
Almond said that he was proud to participate in the event to help raise money for the organization so that others can be helped as he was through a difficult experience.
“Any of these kinds of organizations that are doing this kind of work, I’m definitely a firm believer in, and it means a lot more to me now,” offered Almond.
Almond and his Valu-Mart co-workers raised more than $1,000 for the event, which by the time all of the pledges have been counted will have raised roughly $5,000 in Meaford.
Almond is looking forward to returning to work in the near future.
“I’m coming along really well, I think. I went into the cardiac rehab program that the YMCA puts on in Owen Sound, so I’m in there twice a week, and three days a week I’m walking about 15 miles. My strength’s coming along well. Prior to this I’ve never had an interruption in my work, so I’m used to going to work full-time,” explained Almond, who hopes to return to work in early July.
Margaret Humphries, a Program Coordinator for the Owen Sound branch of the Heart & Stroke Foundation, told The Independent that five teams, with roughly 100 members combined, competed in the Meaford event this year. Each team took the Big Bike on a two kilometre ride through the downtown area, with noisemakers in hand and music blaring, making the large vehicle even more noticeable to those they passed along the way.
The Heart & Stroke Foundation says that there are nine of the mammoth bikes in Canada. The contraption, which is built on a heavy steel frame and has four full size automobile tires and 30 seats, was manufactured in Fort Erie. For the past 21 years, the Big Bikes have travelled from one community to the next raising eyebrows, and more importantly raising money along the way – last year alone more than $8 million was raised across Canada through the Big Bike initiative.
