Cross-Canada cyclist turns tragedy into mission to help others
After becoming high school sweethearts, Adam felt he and Jackie would be together forever.
“We were just so connected,” Adam says. “We also had so much respect and appreciation for each other.”
Getting married to Jackie was inevitable. The pride Adam felt watching her become a mom to their two boys is still almost indescribable.
“She’s was amazing,” Adam starts crying. “She was amazing.”
He says “was” because of what happened that seemingly perfect summer day when they were playing softball together.
“I looked over to check and see that the rest of our outfield was ready,” Adam recalls. “And saw Jackie slumped in a pile.”
He ran over to try and revive her. While they waited for the ambulance, a teammate performed CPR.
“To no avail. We lost her,” Adam says. “Without warning.”
Jackie was just 31. And Adam was left a single dad to their one-year-old and three-year-old.
“More important than me falling into myself and wallowing, I had to raise two boys.”
There was no time to investigate the mystery of how his seemingly healthy young wife could suffer a sudden cardiac arrest.
Until 17 years later, when out of the blue, their oldest son Greg’s heart suddenly stopped beating, leaving him incapacitated.
“There’s probably not much that will be able to be done for him,” Adam says. “But my other boy is genetically at risk.”
Adam has since learned that Jackie and his boys have a genetic heart condition called Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC).
Adam says ARVC is like a ticking time bomb that you often can’t hear until it’s too late, and it affects seemingly healthy young people.
“We don’t want other people to feel this,” Adam says. “We’re going to fix this.”
Adam’s striving to do that by cycling across Canada to raise awareness about ARVC and funds for research.
He completed his first leg from Newfoundland to Ontario. The final leg from B.C. back to Ontario is underway now.
“We can’t always control what life throws at us,” Adam says. “But we can choose how to respond to it.”
So instead of being consumed by grief, Adam is choosing to be motivated by the one thing Jackie wanted their boys to grow-up practicing: being kind to others.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Train derailed in Sarnia after colliding with a truck
Police are investigating after a transport truck collided with a train in Sarnia.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.