8 Independent & Free Press,Thursday, April 29, 2010 Local man takes on the high seas for cancer By CHRIS BABIC Special to The Independent & Free Press A Georgetown man intends to boat from Vancouver to Toronto in just 30 days and hopes to raise $100,000 for cancer research along the way. Dan McKenzie, 55, the owner of Die-Mold Tool Ltd., a manufacturing facility on Todd Road, will leave Vancouver's Coal Harbour Saturday with three friends to embark on the 15,000kilometre journey. The fundraising campaign, called All of Us, is a fully non-profit organization which has set its sights on raising $50,000 for both breast and prostate cancer research. All of the funds raised will go directly to Boating for the Cure, sponsored by Pride of Muskoka. Helping to conquer cancer is something which McKenzie is deeply devoted to because he has experienced firsthand the devastation it can cause. McKenzie's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer while his father passed away due to bone cancer. "There is someone (everywhere) who has been touched by the insidious disease," he says. To inspire people to donate, McKenzie, along with friends Dennis Volpatti, Brent Cornelissen and Wolter ten Cate, will boat from Vancouver to Toronto, The quartet intends to travel down the Pacific coast, through the Panama Canal, across the Caribbean, up the Atlantic coast, along the Hudson River, and into Lake Ontario before reaching Toronto on May 30. There are stops planned all along their route as the crew will spend roughly eight hours a day on the water. Their boat, named Pink and Blue, is a 31-foot Edgewater 318cc with 700hp twin outboard motors and was sold to them at factory cost by the Floridabased Edgewater Power Boats. The journey fulfills a dream McKenzie has had since he was 16 of boating to exotic locales and conquering the waves-- a dream that began when, McKenzie watched a man ride out into Lake Ontario in a Zodiak. Up until a few years ago that might have been enough for McKenzie, but now it wouldn't seem right he says, "to have the opportunity to do all these wonderful things and yet have people suffering every day with the knowledge that I could help them. It would be selfish." To donate and follow the group's progress visit the All of Us website at www.allofus.ca. Dan McKenzie, of Georgetown, is part of a fourman crew who will attempt to boat from Vancouver to Toronto in 30 days as part of a cancer fundraising event. Submitted photo $139. ,QFOXGHV 'HOLYHU\ within zones MG2940 TM You call - we deliver, even if you're not home.TM