Wish granted for terminally ill man who wanted one final snowmobile ride
Posted March 30, 2021 11:27 pm.
Last Updated March 31, 2021 6:43 am.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — A Vancouver Island man with terminal cancer has had his final wish granted, thanks to the North Island Snowmobile club.
Allan Sawchuck is with the club, and says the man had contacted them to see if someone could take him out on a snowmobile ride. He had gone out on a snowmobile in the 1970’s, and had always wanted to try it again.
Sawchuck says it was a no-brainer to step in and help the man.
“He’s not able to drive either, so he lives about a half-hour away from me, so I went and picked him up and we had a good chat in the vehicle,” says Sawchuck. “Then, on the actual ride, we had a couple of stops, just to take in the views and he was very ecstatic.”
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He says they went on the trip last Friday, and he’s crediting the staff at Mount Washington, north of Comox, for helping out in a big way.
“Our local trails are getting pretty beat up now that it’s the end of the year, and I figured we could maybe sneak our way onto the cross-country ski trails up at Mount Washington after-hours, and amazingly enough, they were really accomodating,” says Sawchuck.
“He wanted to be doubled because he wasn’t physically capable to ride his own machine.. and they even came back and said, ‘we’ll lend you a touring snowmobile that’s for two people’, and it was a great fit for him.”
He says, he could tell the man really enjoyed the ride.
“Stopping and chatting with him, you could just see the awe in his face,” says Sawchuck. “He’s ridden motorcycles before, so he was like, ‘No, don’t worry about me, I’ve got this.'”
He says it’s a moment he’ll never forget, and he’s taking some life lessons away from it.
“Basically what I’m taking away from it is live life to the fullest, because it’s short and you never know when it’s going to end.”
