Author: martflan

I first met Cam in Yuma AZ where he visited in the winter with his Mom and Dad. We would sometimes walk together using our trekking poles. I haven’t been using my poles the last couple of years as I walk a lot with my little dog and it seemed to a nuisance walking with poles as well. So I got a hands free leash for her and my challenge is too walk at least twice a day with the poles. Most days I walk 10,000 plus steps and now I’ll have the added benefit of the additional exercise the poles give me.

Cam would always tell the kids to score him a goal and they’d give him the puck, this year both are in new leagues, higher divisions & each got their first goals in the first game of the season. Mackenzie scored two, so one was for Martin as he said he wanted one this season too. Cam was their biggest & loudest fan at every game, it’s not the same this season but we know he’s there for every game.

About 3 years ago my uncle tagged me in this photo stating that these would be my living accommodations in a few years. Sadly I got this photo as a Facebook memory the same day as his Passing and it was a moment I wanted to text him and bring it up. 3 years later almost to the day he tagged me in this photo that is my living accommodations and I’ve been here since July 3rd. I’ve gotten through many hardships here and every test is chance to go home. I wake up a lot of days not wanting to do it anymore but a lot of times I think back to this post and it reminds me of how proud he was and somehow he knew I’d end up here.

My Cam Challenge is going to be getting out of those accommodations in a red serge to become a first responder like he was. I respected him for being EMS and he pushed me a lot to get to where I am. I will make you proud uncle.

Cam Roemmele was a man who always saw the good in every situation. On a personal level he had fought through cancer and won, he had battled alcoholism and won, he had two major spinal surgeries and was fighting those.

In July 2016, he lost the fight. However, his attitude lives on through his friends, family and all of those interested in taking “The Cam Challenge”.

The Cam Challenge is your own personal fight. Make it what you want to battle. Whether that be giving up alcohol or smoking for a time period, attempting to lose weight, pushing yourself to go beyond what you thought was possible.

Please feel free to post your challenges on this site or on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thecamchallenge/

I like to cycle.  I’m a lazy cyclist in that I like flat roads and I’m perfectly satisfied to just cycle 70 km in a day. I participate in a lot of fundraising cycling events and Cam Roemmele was always one of my regular donors towards events that were raising funds for cancer. Cam described his time battling cancer as “one of the worst times of my life” and he was always happy to donate.

On August 16, 2016 I decided to push myself on my bike and double the mileage on my biggest day ever and ride 285 km. On top of that, I crossed two mountain passes and completely traversed the Canadian Rockies from west to east. It was a tough day, but I just kept Cam in my mind the whole time. My biggest challenge wasn’t the mountains, but just getting to my destination in daylight hours as I rode from Panorama, BC to Calgary, Alberta.

I made a number of videos that day, all of them are found here:

Video One – Starting out at sunrise

Video Two – At the summit of the first pass

Video Three – Riding with Matt and Sara in Canmore

Video Four – I made it!