Toronto woman completing 10 triathlons in 10 provinces after mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis

Patrick Swadden · CBC News

· Posted: Sep 15, 2023 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: September 15

When Stephanie Fauquier crosses the finish line of her 10th triathlon this summer, her mother will be close to her heart.

The Torontonian has two pictures of her mother — renowned Canadian surgeon Dr. Robin McLeod — stitched inside the jersey she’s worn across the country on her 500-kilometre fundraising journey.

“She is the reason I’m doing this,” Fauquier said.

McLeod was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease two years ago. She became one of approximately 750,000 Canadians who live with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia; many of whom require round-the-clock care.

Inspired by her mother’s experience, Fauquier launched the Race with Steph initiative to raise awareness about the neurodegenerative disease, which slowly destroys memory, cognition and, eventually, the ability to carry out simple tasks.

Over the last four months, Fauquier has raced in nine triathlons in nine provinces, beginning on May 28 with the Victoria Half Ironman in B.C. Fauquier finished that 113-kilometre triathlon with a broken toe.

So far, Fauquier says she’s raised over $300,000. Her 10th and final race is an Ontario homecoming. She’ll be lacing up for the last time on Sunday for the Barrelman Half Ironman in Niagara Falls.

Even before her diagnosis, Fauquier sys her mother started showing memory loss and aphasia — a disorder affecting the ability to communicate.

“This isn’t an Ontario issue—it’s a Canada-wide issue,” she said. “What better way than to bring attention to a disease that is really terrible and horrifying than to race across the country?”

WATCH | This triathlete stitched photos of her mom in her suit so she’s close to her heart

If you look at Stephanie Fauquier’s custom race suit, you’ll see two photos of her mother — Canadian surgeon Dr. Robin McLeod — stitched inside. Inspired by her mom’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease, Fauquier launched Race with Steph to raise money and awareness for dementia research.

Funds raised to support ongoing research

Fauquier says the money will be donated to the University of Toronto, where her mother used to work. But specifically the university’s Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, which is a global leader in understanding degenerative brain diseases.

The funds will go towards creating an endowment fund, named in McLeod’s honour, that will support a professorship in Alzheimer’s research, said the centre’s director, neuroscientist Dr. Graham Collingridge.

“We can recruit a young scientist with new techniques, new ideas and provide them support for their entire career,” he said.

Philanthropic donations and fundraisers like Fauquier’s are essential for medical research, Collingridge says, because acquiring government grants and awards is highly competitive.

“Unfortunately, governments never put enough money in,” he said.

Collingridge’s own research is focused on understanding the basic biology of Alzheimer’s disease, and how the hundreds of trillions of synapses in people’s brains work effectively — contributing to storing information and memories. 

“In Alzheimer’s, that process goes wrong,” said Collingridge.

Number of Canadians living with disease going ‘up and up,’ researcher says

Collingridge says that while a small number of the Canadian Alzheimer’s cases are familial, most are a “complex interplay” between genetic and environmental factors.” 

Research shows that exercise, a healthy diet, moderation of alcohol, abstention from smoking, low stress, and the absence of depression can significantly reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, he said.

“If you just take the subset of people who really look after their health… the Alzheimer’s risk is actually decreasing,” said Collingridge.

Overall, however, it isn’t. New diagnoses are outpacing population growth because of Canada’s aging population, Collingridge said, as age is the number one risk factor. 

The number of Canadians living with the disease is going up at an alarming rate, according to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, with a projected nearly one million dementia patients expected by 2030 — the majority women.

The ballooning patient pool will have an enormous cost to the healthcare system, Collingridge said. “Unless we can do something and do it quickly, the numbers are just going to go up and up.” 

While medications can only slow down the disease, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, and Collingridge said we are likely a long way off from acquiring one.

Family hopes to lessen stigma

Fauquier says her father John sometimes describes her mother’s diagnosis as “watching your loved ones die in slow motion.”

He’s 80 years old, she said, but still her mother’s primary caretaker.

“Every single day, my dad says that he loves my mom more and more,” said Fauquier.

“It really impacts the whole family,” Fauquier said. But she’s hoping that as more Canadians learn about Alzheimer’s the stigma and shame that often accompany the disease will diminish. 

Regardless, she says she wants to honour her mother — a woman who, despite her busy professional accomplishments, would catch the red-eye home to be with her children when they woke up.

“She’s given me the ability to be brave and go after my goals and dreams,” Fauquier said.