In 2009 I met this amazing person after hearing his story and deciding we should start a chapter in Manitoba for Ride For Dad. Over the past decade, this man has inspired me and many others with his determination, courage and a great love for life. He has given countless days and hours each year, getting the RFD message and awareness out there will telling his own story of survival. He is one of the main reasons we all Ride for Dad.

My grandfather, Paul Ahern, died from metastatic prostate cancer in the late 1990s. A veteran of World War II and typical of his generation he didn’t talk about his health, feelings, or dote on himself. Suffering from lower back pain became he spoke to his doctor, but the pain was thought to be due muscle strain caused by the size of his belly and he was told to lose weight. When the pain became unbearable, tests were ordered and the diagnosis was late-stage metastatic prostate cancer in the pelvis and testicles. After a number of painful surgeries and treatments, my grandfather finally succumb to the disease, it ravaged his body, and this once jolly, rotund man died a little more than a skeleton.

I Ride because I don’t want other men to die this way. Men need to take responsibility for their own health and get tested. I Ride so that doctors have better diagnostic and treatment options to prolong life and keep families together longer.

If you can’t Ride, sponsor someone who does, or donate to help Save Lives.

Rob Taylor

Ottawa

For the first 12 years with The Ride For Dad, I rode my ’86 Harley Davidson FLST Heritage Softail, red and cream

For the last 8 years I have ridden my 2012 Harley Davidson FatBoy Lo, flat black.