Alaska Glacier Seafoods president Mike Erickson fought cancer six years ago. In 2015, he turned his work commute into a way to help other Southeast Alaskans doing the same.<\/p>\n
From February to November, he biked the 12 miles to work and, with the help of 29 contributors, mostly fishermen, he raised $7,777.94 for Juneau\u2019s Cancer Connection. He biked a total of 1,532.6 miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first got out of treatment, I don\u2019t think I could have rode 100 miles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He went to Seattle for treatment, and the people he saw made an impression on him.<\/p>\n
Many of them struggled with the cost of transportation to obtain medical care, and then lodging once there.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since that time, I\u2019ve just kind of gotten involved in certain projects\u2026 that make it so a person doesn\u2019t get left behind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He put a sign up in the office letting people know they could pledge their donation per mile that he biked. Cheryl Howard of AGS organized and kept track of donations. Erickson is modest about his involvement with the fundraiser.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not looking for any \u2018Attaboy\u2019s. I don\u2019t need that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I feel great about (helping those who are less fortunate.)\u2026 who do you know that hasn\u2019t been impacted by cancer? Every family has been somehow touched\u2026 we get a lot of people coming through this office.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sight of kids in need motivated him. Each of the last several years, AGS has donated money to Seattle Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
Seeing young people suffering from cancer \u201ctugged on my heartstrings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou about sit down and start crying,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ruth Johnson, president of the Cancer Connection board, said Erickson \u201creally shocked all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
She thought he might raise a couple hundred dollars by cycling. Instead, the amount of money he raised rivals their biggest fundraiser of the year, flightseeing icefield tours with Coastal Helicopters.<\/p>\n
Contributions like Erickson\u2019s are \u201cfrankly, what we exist on,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is one guy working for people with cancer in his community. This is what one person can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now that Juneau has radiation treatment in Southeast Radiation Oncology Center, the nonprofit\u2019s biggest expense is helping people with travel, she said \u2014 usually from other Southeast communities into Juneau. Cancer Connection doesn\u2019t charge for its services and is fully funded by donations.<\/p>\n
Cancer Connection has a Seattle apartment that stays pretty full of people, Johnson said.<\/p>\n
(Thanks to anonymous donors, as of this month, those traveling to Juneau for treatment at Southeast Radiation Oncology Center also have a place to stay. Read more about that here: http:\/\/juneauempire.com\/local\/2015-12-17\/new-housing-cancer-patients-juneau.)<\/p>\n
Christine Fanning, who donated to Erickson\u2019s fundraiser along with her husband, Luke, sells salmon and halibut to AGS.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted to support a great guy and a great cause,\u201d she said. She\u2019s had family members who have used Cancer Connection, though not the one in Juneau, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do great work during a really difficult time,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019d happily do it again if he were to do the bike ride again. Hint, hint, Mike.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his part, Erickson said he plans to \u2014 but he wants to increase it. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou see people riding all the time. You see people running\u2026 If we could encourage more of this \u2014 hey, that\u2019s fantastic,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the idea that an average Joe like myself can go out and do this, and contribute to a worthwhile cause\u2026. some of us are a little more fortunate than I think we realize, sometimes. By reaching out and giving a little bit, you go home feeling pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact Juneau Empire Outdoors Editor Mary Catharine Martin at maryc.martin@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n
\nTHOSE WHO GAVE<\/strong><\/p>\n Contributors to Erickson\u2019s fundraiser include Luke and Christine Fanning, Rick Shattuck, Bart Watson, Brian Holst, Ken and Lisa Judson, Daniel and Sandy Stayton, Dick Luther, Jim Eastwood, Jared Erickson, Kathy Hosford, Bonnie Erickson, Kurt Wohlhueter, Alaska Glacier Seafoods, Cheryl Howard, Nick Segal, Yana White, Ron Blake, Dwaine Reddekopp, Ted Merrell, Ernest Guldin, Michelle Drummond, Vernon Williams, Shuyan Johnson, Peter Ord, Thomas Brayton, Roger and Pam Walling, Hot Bite and Robin Silk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alaska Glacier Seafoods president Mike Erickson fought cancer six years ago. In 2015, he turned his work commute into a way to help other Southeast Alaskans doing the same. From February to November, he biked the 12 miles to work and, with the help of 29 contributors, mostly fishermen, he raised $7,777.94 for Juneau\u2019s Cancer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":26598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[149],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-26597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-outdoors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26597"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=26597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}