By Mark Staffieri
From visiting small towns and big cities, to meeting the face of women’s hockey, and experiencing a tragedy that went against the exact cause she put her heart into promoting, Ashley Gilbank’s coast-to-coast rollerblade trip provided a full stock of memories in just over four months.
Gilbank began her Skate4Life 2012 tour in Newfoundland in June and wound up in Victoria, B.C. 134 days later. The purpose of the journey was to raise funds and awareness for mental health and the Ottawa-based Do It For Daron foundation.
Gilbank made many new friends along the way, she recounts, and had many remarkable experiences. Events in Hastings and Pontypool during her 45-day trek through Ontario stuck out.
“Hastings was a small country town with a population of 1,500 that raised $1,500, and Pontypool, population of 1,500, raised $1,200,” Gilbank highlights in an e-mail interview with the Ottawa Sportspage.
Another unforgettable experience came in Alberta when Gilbank met Hayley Wickenheiser and her club team, the Calgary Dinos.
“The experience was amazing,” Gilbank recalls. “They came off the ice and the coaches went in the dressing room and gave a small speech and then they pulled me right in the dressing room.
“I was speaking to Danielle Goyette and Hayley Wickenheiser – two future hall of famers and pioneers of women’s hockey. It was amazing to have their support. They also blew me away when they donated $1,000.”
The motivation for her journey came after the suicide of a childhood friend, Rachel Spearing. As Gilbank reached the end of her journey in Victoria, Spearing’s mother was there to greet her.
“She surprised me,” Gilbank notes. “I had no idea she was coming to see me end the journey. She and a few of Rachel’s closest friends came out the eve of my last skating day. I didn’t realize that this journey had meant so much to them and that they were following me every step of the way.”
During Gilbank’s time in B.C., a tragic reminder of the importance of her cause came from the high-profile death of a young teen named Amanda Todd.
“The Amanda Todd suicide actually happened while we were in Vancouver,” Gilbank says. “It was the same day I was speaking at a suicide prevention seminar at the B.C. Children’s Hospital. I feel very bad for the Todd family. I also know the sad truth that this will not be the last suicide victim in our country.”
Gilbank plans to continue developing Skate4Life as a charity, holding events and finding more ways to tell her story.
“My opinions are very blunt when it comes to what we can do as a society and I am not afraid to share them,” she adds. “I believe that the media needs to take responsibility for how they report suicides.
“There are so many ways we can change, but the biggest way we can prevent these from happening is to educate ourselves, our kids, our society and end the stigma that surrounds mental health.
“There is help out there and we need to make sure everyone knows how to access that help.”