Workout to Conquer Cancer 2026

In between the chaos of training, work and being a disaster, it’s Workout to Conquer Cancer time of year!

Every year since 2020, myself, my friends Arden and Raj, captain a Workout to Conquer Cancer team in memory of our dear friend, Tamara O’Brien. Tamara was a National Team Gymnast and World Champion, who passed away of Melanoma in the fall of 2019. Before she passed, she participated in Workout to Conquer Cancer and asked us to continue to support it.

Since her passing, our team, Hot Tam Summer, has raised over $220,000 in support of BC Cancer and their mission. The premise of Workout to Conquer Cancer is to move your body every day in the month of May for 30 minutes for those who cannot.

Well, we are back, baby.

I’m usually in charge of doing the social media work, and this year has been extra inspiring and sad. There’s a comfort in going back through stories about Tam, posting and keeping her memory alive, and it’s equally sad for the simple fact that she’s not here.

I’ve never met someone who loved and embraced attention like her - truly, her superpower. Before she passed, CBC did a mini-documentary on her and her story. She was so proud of it, and she passed away before it aired, although she did see it ahead of time. While she was sick, she vlogged and was very publicly honest about her experiences. It makes me tremendously proud and devastated that her documentary has over 2.3 million views on YouTube to date. She would have never believed it.

I remember the day Tamara moved to palliative care in 2019. Us, a few of her friends, got the tour of Palliative before she moved up there. It was one of the most sobering experiences. Different than hospice, but with the same inevitable ending. She was a kid, and so were we.

We took turns staying the night with her, and we would all hang out during the day. When she napped, one of us would usually stay while the others got lunch, went for a walk, got a coffee or caught up on some work.

Palliative was gorgeous for a hospital setting - is that weird to say? Huge windows, top floor of Vancouver General - the water and North Van on one side, the skyline of Burnaby and the mountains on the other.

I remember a sunny day while Tamara slept and the music played, a song came on that I have forever loved - Days in the Sun by Ziggy Alberts. Music was the backdrop to everything in Palliative, but this only one I remember.

“And I said, I woke, to the summer on my window

And I miss you most when the sunlight filters across these empty sheets

Days in the Sun”

“Days in the sun

are all, these days are all, all, always, they are always

The best with you.”

This week, I have been updating and promoting Hot Tam Summer. Weeks ago, I forgot I saved “Ziggy Alberts: Live at Royal Albert Hall” on Spotify that comes out tomorrow. I got the reminder tonight.

The first song is Days in the Sun.

TTYS,

RS