A visit with Celgene

Last Wednesday, I had a fantastic opportunity to visit the Celgene Canada headquarters in Oakville. They even managed to convince me to hop back on my bike for a bit (though I promised myself I wouldn't even look at the thing until next spring) and ride with Kevin Leshuk, their GM, from downtown Toronto out to their offices in Oakville.

We started the morning at Princess Margaret Hospital. I rode there from my apartment on the waterfront, and I have to admit, it was a strange feeling to be back on a bike after even 2 weeks away. Add to that, I was riding in downtown Toronto during rush hour traffic, and it was a bit of a change from the desolate roads of the Canadian wilderness. I met with Kevin and the media crew and after a few "Hollywood moments" (read: doing multiple takes of us biking down University St.) Kevin and I were free to head out on the road.

We rode down Simcoe & Spadina to the lakeshore path. There was a small hickup on Queen St. when my skinny little road wheels became lodged in the streetcar track and I found myself stuck in a rut, in the middle of a major intersection with cars honking all around. However, we were very soon down on the lakeshore path and on our way toward Oakville.

Kevin and I had a great chat during the ~2hr ride. He's an avid mountain biker and was really interested in learning more about road biking, and about the kind of perseverance needed to complete this trip. I on the other hand am a fledgling, young entrepreneur and was very keen to speak to someone with a great business sense and a lot of good advice to offer.

By the end of the ride, we were laughing like old school mates and already had dirt on each other (ok, Kevin probably had more on me). Our arrival at Celgene was a fantastic welcoming, with the entire office out front to welcome us. I had a few complaints from the employees about not doing a better job of humiliating their boss, but truth be told, Kevin was probably in better shape than I was after I had sat on my butt for 2 weeks (and he had already rode 40km into Toronto that morning!).We went inside where I gave a small presentation on my journey, the people I met, my experiences with myeloma patients and how (I hope) this campaign helped the myeloma community. I think it was important for a company such as Celgene, who make a fantastic treatment for myeloma, to hear a more personal side to the myeloma community and the people who they are helping. We did a small Q&A session as well, which was nice for me, since it made me recount some memories of my trip after I had been long enough away from the ride to reminisce about them.

I was then presented with an incredibly generous donation in the form of a giant novelty cheque (one of my dreams!) and enjoyed a well-earned lunch. I was glad to be back in cycling mode where I was able to once again make a pig of myself and eat 3 or 4 times a normal human. We then wound up an amazing day and I headed home to continue on with my life.

Today, just over a week later, I find myself deep into city living, working contracts all over the city (and country in some cases) and slowly becoming a normal human being again (well, as normal as I ever am). There is one more element to my grand plan which I still have yet to do. As I mentioned time and time again, this ride was inspired by, and done for my father. Yet, in the entire time since I've returned from the UK, I think I have seen him a grand total of around 5 days.

As such, in 5 hours, I hop on a plane back to Manitoba to catch up on some much needed family time. Dad and I are planning on doing some true stereotypical bonding and heading out fishing... my timing was just a little off (I hope this doesn't turn into ice fishing). The rest of the family will be joining together the following weekend for thanksgiving where we'll get to sit and enjoy ourselves in the house we grew up in for the first time in a very long time.

Upon my return, the only thing left to do will be count up the donations, present PMH with their share of the contributions, and try my hardest to hang onto memories of one of the most influential experiences of my life.
PS: Kevin, if you thought I was just being nice when I insisted on taking the giant cheque, I assure you, it still sits proudly in my office and will continue to do so for a very long time. Trust me... I already tried to cash it to see if we could get $20,000 out of you, so I know now that it really is just novelty. ;-)