Ashley Majewski is lining up for her second run at the Challenge the Chief event … partly because she enjoys a good challenge, but mostly because she has a good heart.
“I’ll do anything for a good cause. I think if you do something for the greater good, and for the right reasons, it makes everything better,” said Ashley.
Ashley is a Calgary police officer who has dedicated the past eight years of her life to community service. Deeply committed and connected to the first responder community, she says she understands the importance of wellness and the risks that are an inherent part of the job, including higher incidents of cancer for firefighters.
While she has not personally accessed Wellspring’s support services, she understands how cancer can turn people’s lives upside down, and when she joined Wellspring’s Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge in 2019, she was moved by member’s accounts of how joining Wellspring gave them meaningful support and empowerment.
“I believe in Wellspring wholeheartedly. I know the role the organization plays in the lives of people facing cancer and I will do anything I can to promote it and help raise awareness,” said Majewski.
This time around, Ashley has changed her approach to training for the stairclimb. Instead of months of gruelling workouts alone, as was her regiment while training in 2019, this year, she’s decided to make the exercises more enjoyable by being more lighthearted and inviting others to train with her.
“I’ve put a kind of wellness angle on it. If I can get a friend or co-worker to come run stairs with me at McHugh Bluff, we get to socialize and have a bit of fun. Stairs are hard, but time with friends makes it feel less intense,” she said.
Many of Ashley’s family and friends back in her hometown in northern Ontario, are cheering her on from afar, and several have signed up to support her climb. She is immensely grateful for the donations coming in, and hopeful she will make her goal of $5,000. Visit Ashley’s Page to support her.
“We’ve all been touched by cancer. I have lost many loved ones to this disease, and I know others who continue to battle on, including my aunt who just moved to Calgary from Ontario,” she said. “I may not be able to help them much, but I can do this, so I’m going to jump in and do it!”
The climb to the top of Calgary’s highest tower is no small feat for anyone, but for a small-framed person donning the heavy weight of firefighting gear, the effort will require a particularly bright spirit to buoy her upward.
“I know I won’t be as fast as the chief, but my heart is in the right place and I know I’ll make it to the top some way somehow,” she said.
“In my mind, if we raise awareness about what Wellspring does, and raise funds to help support people going through cancer, that’s a big win – it’s all that matters.”
