Paddy Miller and Joan Skillings are riding their bikes across Canada (in stages) in memory of Paddy’s son Mike who died in August 2000 after a long and very private battle with bipolar disease.

Michael was a sensitive, intelligent fellow with a very wry sense of humour. He was well thought of by his friends and workmates and had many successes in his life. However in the last months of his life his illness robbed him of his self esteem and mired him in a despair so deep that suicide was the tragic outcome.

The bike journey is a healing one, an attempt to come to grips with our grief and raise awareness of the struggles facing individuals with mental illness. As we ride across the country we find our own awareness has been raised. So many people have contacted us: friends, relatives, acquaintances and collegues; all have been touched somehow by mental illness. Hopefully as people begin to talk more, services for the mentally ill will improve. Our objective is to raise funds for direct services for psychiatric patients and their families in the Greater Victoria area.

Our ride began in Victoria in September 2002. Since then we have cycled for two weeks every September from Victoria to Halifax. In September 2008 we will complete our journey by biking from Corner Brook to St. John's Newfoundland. It has been a treat to see Canada and to meet all those real Canadians.

Please support psychiatric services and send a donation
in memory of Michael Miller to:

BC Schizophrenia Society (Victoria Branch)
941 Kings Road
Victoria, B.C. V8T 1W7
or go to www.bcssvictoria.ca and click on "Donate Now"