Canadian Cancer Society challenges us to conquer our fears

Last August, Natasha Crosier vowed to face her fear of heights and ride the Leviathan ride at Canada’s Wonderland.

There were some ups and downs to finally get there, but last Saturday she did just that.

The Canadian Cancer Society’s Fearless Challenge has officially re-launched this month, capitalizing of the success of the same campaign first launched in 2014. More than 500 people took part last year, raising about $150,000. This time around, the challenge, with the tagline “Be fearless and help others do the same,” has an added a ‘fear selector’ to help fundraisers narrow down what fear they’d like to tackle and has partnered up with sponsors, like Canada’s Wonderland, where participants can conquer their fears and raise money for a good cause.

Crosier first heard about the challenge on the radio when she was in Toronto visiting her cousin, Chris Taylor, last summer. Since Taylor was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2012, Crosier had seen him face his fears and she was determined to do the same.

“I was super, super close to him. He was more like a brother,” said Crosier in a phone interview with Yahoo Canada. “When I heard about it on the radio in August I vowed to ride the Leviathan and raise $2,000.”

But the park closed for the season before she reached her fundraising goal.

Unfortunately, her beloved cousin passed away a few months later on Feb. 17. Instead of giving up the challenge during a sad time, his death “lit the fire” to finally reach her goal and face her fear. The day before she rode the rollercoaster, she reached her $2,000 goal. The next day, along with family, friends and colleagues she rode Canada’s Wonderland’s longest ride.

The day she faced her fear of heights, she didn’t have time to feel too scared, Crosier recalls. One minute she was trying to figure out the logistics of tickets for her large group, the next thing she knew she was harnessed in.

Now she has the memory of sharing a special day surrounded by people who loved her cousin as much as she does, plus she got to raise money for a cause close to her heart.

Crosier is not alone in her fear of heights. The society did an online survey recently and found the top five fears of Canadians are snakes (40 per cent), heights (34 per cent), public speaking (33 per cent), spiders (31 per cent) and natural disasters (30 per cent).

Don’t have any weekend plans yet? Canadians interested in facing their fears can sign up via the Canadian Cancer Society’s website. Some of the fears the society suggests you could conquer include skydiving, eating something gross, getting a tattoo or riding a scary coaster like Crosier did. Signing up is easy … unless you’re too scared?