Kyle Braatz 's Profile

Born:  June 24th 1984, London Ontario

Education: Bachelor of Commerce, Specializing in Marketing from Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa

Interests: Hockey, Hunting, Fishing, Lacrosse, Biking, Golf, Cottage Life, Spending time with Family and Friends

Aspirations: To continually grow as a person, with the help of friends, family and "Typical Canadians" I meet throughout my life.

Story: The Typically Canadian cause was inspired by the life and death of a truly extraordinary figure in my life. My Granddad, the Honourable Frank Duff Moores, a former MP, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, successful business man, but most of all, my best friend and a Typical Canadian who was diagnosed with liver cancer 18 months before he died in July 2005. A man highly regarded by his peers and his constituents for his charity and good will; Frank found fulfillment through helping others find success and happiness.  As Alex Hickman, the Attorney General for Newfoundland who worked with my Granddad expressed: “Frank, was an emotional man. An encounter with an individual having trouble with unemployment, health or anything would move him to tears and he would do something about it.”

Although he led an illustrious and successful life, I will always remember him first and foremost as a loving grandfather. His story telling was tremendous; listening to him allowed me to travel on every one of his life’s adventures whether as an avid outdoorsman, sports enthusiast, businessman, politician, friend, or family man. When he was diagnosed with cancer, I feared that I had lost the soft lap, the warm voice, the wisdom. I feared that the disease would rob my granddad of his spirit; I was wrong.  This loving man experienced the pain and frustration that all cancer patients experience while undergoing treatment but refused to forfeit his final months to the disease. His optimism never faded, and he found strength and joy in the support he received from his family. In an interview with the CBC he recounted his experiences: “These last eight months were the best and worst of my life, the worst because I had a cancer and everything that goes with it, but it was the best because you always know how much you love your family, you have no idea until going through something like this, how much they love you back.” As the disease continued to run its finite course, and granddad’s positive outlook persisted. What I realized most was that no matter how successful he was in his career, his greatest victory came with the realization that he had given back to his community, strangers, friends and family. My granddad was a Typical Canadian.

Granddad passed away on July 10th 2005. In the wake of my family’s loss, I felt it was important to keep his memory alive and instead of mourning I would celebrate and honour his life by giving back just as he had for so many. The idea for Typically Canadian crystallized almost a year later when I found a decorative pin with the backing still intact lying on the dock at my cottage.  It was a pin from St. Andrews College, a school which my Granddad had attended.  None of his friends or family had seen the pin before and did not know where it came from, but I regarded the find as a calling… Granddad, a typical Canadian, wanted me to take him on one last adventure, as he had taken me so many times through his stories. I will keep his pin with me on the Typically Canadian tour as a source of strength and to remind me that cancer is not un-beatable.

Who am I riding with? I am riding with Frank Duff Moores, my best friend, and a Typical Canadian.

I will also be riding with the will power and determination that my Aunt Syliva shows while currently fighting and that my Aunt Jill Moores, a survivor, showed while battling cancer and her current courage while in remission…WHO ARE YOU RIDING WITH?