‘Uplifting for everyone’: Hospice patient enjoys last wish motorcycle ride in St. Albert

A motorcyclist from Jasper has granted St. Albert supportive care resident Victor Guindon one of his final wishes.

A long-time motorcyclist took his last ride on Wednesday, thanks to a special sidecar and some good will.

Victor Guindon is a resident at the Foyer Lacombe hospice centre in St. Albert. He rode motorcycles for more than four decades before he had to stop due to mobility issues.

Now, near the end of his life, his last wish was to saddle up once more.

Fate Hurtada, a registered nurse at Foyer Lacombe, explained that residents at the hospice are asked when they arrive what their last wish is.

Staff then do what they can to help make that wish come true, something Hurtada said can bring “joy and peace in their final days.”

 “It’s really uplifting for everyone, the family, staff and just for everyone. It makes us happier,” she added.

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With Victor using a wheelchair, it wasn’t as simple as just finding a bike. But Robert Logan was all too happy to help.

Logan owns Jasper Motorcycle Tours and spent his days guiding tourists through the Canadian Rocky Mountains before his business was destroyed in the 2024 wildfire.

On Wednesday he toured St. Albert, thanks to a bike he had stored in Leduc and a sidecar that could accommodate Guindon

“I just had fun with him,” Logan said. “He was just happy, and he’s going and he’s smiling.

“And that was his daughter on the back of the bike, and she’s awesome too. She was my tour guide … I’ve never been here before.”

After the ride, Victor said “being in the open air” had felt good, and it was something he had always loved about riding motorcycles.

Logan said it was nice to be able to help. Being from Jasper, he knows how far a little kindness can go.

“We’ve had a lot of goodwill, and it’s so infectious when something like this happens,” he added. “You want to be part of that good will.”