I have been proudly serving the Yellowknife Fire Department since 1997 and it has been a wild experience all those years to now and the honours of meeting and befriending so many great people.

Back in 2020 I signed up to do the stairclimb for my Mom 60 (D. 2003 CA of course), our fallen brothers Cyril Fyfe 41 and Kevin Olson 24 (LODD 2005), my Dad (CA survivor since 2011) many other friends who passed due to this disease (Sean Cadieux 9, Jennifer Gamble 26, Sheri Shea 35, Darryl Gate 48... sadly the list goes on) but, especially for my wife Donna (who would have been there to cheer me on) whilst she battled metastatic breast cancer since 2018.

Unfortunately, the climb was cancelled due to the Covid response protocols. That truly robbed me (us) of a moment because, sadly, my wife died in November of 2020 at the CCI in Edmonton; a shock of which I have yet to recover. This 2023 climb will help me bring some balance back and with that said, I also now climb for one of our very own YKFD IAFF L2890 brothers: Firefighter Greg Pratt who is fighting cancer as we speak, keep on keepin' on... my man!

Wellspring is great and thanks for putting this on 9 years running!  I am really looking forward to this years event!

I also want to give a shout out to the Compassion House in Edmonton who made our lives easier during all that back and forth from YK to Edmonton, meeting many fine people along the way.

Thanks for all the support!  I adjusted my goal to $5,700 from $2,023 as you will notice which rounds to 100 bucks a flight of stairs.  Tis a lofty target I know... but...

-Ian