Team TaTa’s raises hope along with more than $1 million for the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
By Colleen Seto
At age 44, Kathie Geleta was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive type of breast cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy and a lymph node dissection in April of 2005. In June, her oncologist gave her the dire prognosis that she only had a 20 per cent chance of survival.
“I did everything they told me to do,” says Geleta, who lives in Cochrane and received treatment at Canmore’s Bow Valley Community Cancer Centre. “I went through what was supposed to be six months of chemo that ended up being nine months, and it was gruelling.” But it worked and Geleta remains in remission today.
In late 2006, Geleta had reconstructive surgery. Following her marathon of treatments and recovery, she felt well enough to take part in a marathon of a different kind — the 2007 Alberta Cancer Foundation’s Weekend to End Women’s Cancers. The 60-kilometre fundraising walk was something that her daughters, Nichole and Kaitlyn, had been encouraging her to do.
“They said, ‘Come on, Mom, this will be really good for us,’” says Geleta. “We needed to raise $1,500 each in order to be able to walk, so we set off on our fundraising path. That initial year, we raised $21,250. It was an amazing feeling.”
But for Geleta, raising money wasn’t the main motivation. During the walks, she interacted with so many people affected by cancer. “That was the impetus to keep going — it was the hope we could provide because I survived.”
The Geleta family, known as Team TaTa’s, raised more than $200,000 in six years for the Alberta Cancer Foundation through the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers.
When that event ended in 2013, it meant a new chapter for Team TaTa’s. They began hosting a variety of community fundraising efforts, including selling TaTa Teddies that Geleta makes. To date, thanks to the unwavering support of their community in Cochrane and Calgary, Team TaTa’s has raised $1,013,912.52 for the Foundation — always inserting humour where they can.
“We’ve had fundraisers called everything from the TataPalooza, an annual steak-and-lobster event, to Boozin’ for Boobies, the Breast Brunch Ever, plus nine big black-tie galas,” says Geleta, about the often sold-out events.
TataPalooza 2026 is what pushed Team TaTa’s past the million-dollar mark, and the successful event has already been tentatively booked for 2027. “It has been so well received here in Cochrane and we receive such great support,” she says. “It really has been amazing.”
Now, having achieved that incredible fundraising milestone, Geleta is stepping back while her daughters carry on the legacy. “It has been a labour of love,” she says. “I’ve had this big army that marched along with me when I was sick, when I got better and when I started fundraising. It’s this movement that happened and I’m so very grateful.
“Maybe that’s the reason I’m still here. We kept going to raise money, but it was more to provide hope. That was the whole purpose of this journey.”
