Raised so far

$19,892

Our goal

$150,000

10,059

km logged

Sign up

Ride

Get riding and track your kms from February until July to reach your training goal.

Fundraise

Share your fundraising page on social media and start to raise funds to help find a cure for Desmoid Fibromatosis.

Get connected, track your progress and join our community of awesome sponsors.

Sign up, train and fundraise for a chance to win some amazing prizes from our valued sponsors. We have fun incentives and fundraising prizes for you this year... Check out our Prizes page for more info.

Athina's Story

My name is Athina Merckx and in February 2019 I noticed some pain in the back of my right knee after swim practice one day. The following month doctors diagnosed me with Desmoid Fibromatosis.

About Desmoid Tumours

Desmoid-type fibromatosis affects approximately 2 to 4 people in 1 million each year. The tendency for recurrence with surgery makes the treatment of these rare soft tissue tumours challenging.

About DFC

The Desmoid Tumour Foundation of Canada (DFC) is the official Canadian charity for desmoid research. In the past three years, the DFC has donated more than $250,000 toward investigating new and effective therapies.

Update on Funds Raised in 2021

The first $40,000 was awarded to year 1 of Wernig Gerlinde Study Stanford School of Medicine, Department of Pathology – “Studying CD47 blockade as an immunotherapy for desmoid-type fibromatosis”

Ana V just donated $515
Sandra Weir just donated $50
Tante Josee just donated $100
Maurice Heleven just donated $1,000
Heleven Ingrid just donated $26.50
Phil Barker just donated $53
Stuart Schipper just donated $100
Julie & Charles Goldberg just donated $106
Dick Freeborough just donated $159
Rúben just donated $53
Anonymous just donated $21.20
Yves Ciemniak just donated $50
Haesendonckx philippe just donated $31.80
Hy Adessky just donated $100
Werner Van dorpe just donated $26.50
Rudi CURVERS just donated $515
Robert just donated $300
Beth Gould Crotty just donated $106
Joeri/Sabine De Knop/Huyghe just donated $106
Jan just donated $265

About Athina's Ride

Athina's Ride is a virtual cycling event that starts with training rides on February 15th and culminates on July 9th & 10th with an epic ride where you can achieve the goal you set for yourself. Ride by yourself, with some friends or along with the Okanagan Granfondo ride. You can ride indoors on a trainer or outdoors (and manually log it, or use platforms like Strava to automatically upload your rides). You'll sign up, choose your distance, and start training.

Create an account, log your training distances, and then participate on Ride Weekend in one of four distances. By logging your distances and fundraising, you'll enter to win some awesome prizes. Meanwhile, 100% of the proceeds raised through fundraising will benefit the Desmoid Tumour Foundation of Canada.