When Betty Sampson’s daughter Sarah, a nurse who works at the Cross Cancer Institute, brought home an issue of Leap magazine, she encouraged her mom to participate in a new event highlighted on the cover: Bust a Move for Breast Health, or BaM, running in both the Edmonton and Calgary this year. “She said ‘Hey Mom, you should do this. You’re an exercise nut and this is really cool. I said, ‘Sure, let’s do it together.’ She said ‘No, you do it,’” Sampson recalls with a laugh.
Busting out some moves: (Left to right) John Waters, Denis Dubord, Betty Sampson, Danielle Schnurer, Kylene Nauman hold keynote Bust-a-Mover Richard Simmons.
Undeterred, Sampson turned to her colleagues at PCL Constructors Inc., where she has participated in an in-house boot camp for years. “I approached one of my girlfriends in the boot camp and said, ‘Do you feel like doing this with me?’” The answer was yes and soon Sampson had recruited a team of five women and men, including one member whose wife recently went through cancer treatment.
Sampson, who describes her teammates as headstrong and motivated people, says the group began asking friends, family and co-workers for donations. They also adopted a new name – Chesticles. In their one month of fundraising, the Chesticles raised more than $33,000, which was the highest amount raised by a team at Edmonton’s new Bust a Move event.
Next it was time for the actual event, which involved hundreds of people in outrageous costumes participating in a giant fitness class at Edmonton’s Northlands Expo Centre. “We had no idea it would be so much fun,” she says. “It was hard work but it was such an amazing atmosphere; it was inspiring. We walked away and could not shut up about the event for weeks.”
As for Sampson’s motivation for joining in, aside from a pestering daughter? “I did it because I don’t have a cancer story,” Sampson says. “I don’t want a story; I want to go through life without one. I have two daughters at home and I want them to go through life without these stories, too.”
Visit bustamove.ca for more information.
