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Prof cycles around Nova Scotia to support dementia research

STUART PEDDLE SALTWIRE NETWORK

A small gathering outside a Halifax bike retailer on July 16 honoured the efforts of Dalhousie University researcher John Archibald after the successful conclusion of his cycling campaign around all of Nova Scotia in support of dementia research.

The Cycle of Life Ride for Dementia is a fundraising awareness project centred on supporting the Alzheimer's Society of Nova Scotia and the Maritime Brain Tissue Bank at Dalhousie University.

“This is a facility that supports basic research into brain science and dementia research toward cures, ultimately, and diagnoses and treatments,” Archibald said of the brain bank.

Raising awareness is also important to the Dal professor and researcher in the fields of molecular biology, genetics, genomics, and microbial evolution.

“There's obviously stigma associated with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia so it was a way for me to play a small role in sort of opening that dialogue a little bit.”

Archibald's father was diagnosed in 2014, which started the family journey down the road so many now are experiencing. He said it took him nine days to ride around the circumference of the province – a total of about 2,400 kilometres.

“The original plan was to do that in seven days. The weather was interesting at times, but we did what one does under those circumstances. You work with what you've got.”

Archibald left Halifax on July 1, heading north along the Eastern Shore, proceeding counterclockwise up through Cape Breton and then back to the mainland, toward the border with New Brunswick, then along the Bay of Fundy and Yarmouth and up along the South Shore before arriving back in Halifax on July 9.

“We've raised about

$21,000 so far, and it's being split between the Alzheimer's Society and DMRF – Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation – and those moneys are going directly to the Brain Tissue Bank,” he said.

TOWN OF YARMOUTH

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2021-07-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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