The North Coast was home, even when his parents moved to Alberta, Cody Scheuerman found his way back.
Raised in Kitimat, he moved to Prince Rupert in 2005 to attend college and work on the ocean.
Six years ago, he met the love of his life, Samantha Kasdorf, who became his fiancé, and who stood by his side during his two year battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
When he was diagnosed at 30. Scheuerman couldn’t work while he underwent intensive, and expensive, treatment. The North Coast community responded in droves.
A GoFundMe page was set up in March 2016 by Kasdorf’s sister and three days later 200 donors had raised $20,000 for Scheuerman. The fund continued to grow to $26,000.
A second fundraiser was launched in November 2017 when the couple had to move to Vancouver for Scheuerman’s bone marrow transplant. The Facebook auction for Cody & Sam ran for three weeks and raised another $26,000.
READ MORE: Friends, Facebook and fundraising
Then there was the third initiative for the couple — friends, family and community members showed their support by purchasing “Wear the Love for Cody & Sam” T-shirts.
The shirt reads “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” There are posts of people wearing the shirt at the Relay For Life, while on vacation in Bali and Arizona and at a marathon in Vegas.
On Christmas, staff from the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital wore the shirt wishing the couple a “Merry Christmas from the Prince Rupert ER staff to you. We hope WE DON’T SEE YOU!!”
Scheuerman was truly amazing with his sharp wit, penchant for debating politics and his athleticism.
Even after 18 months of cancer treatment, he took part in a race that inspired him to be profiled for “MVP of The Week” in the Northern View on September 29.
Before going to Vancouver for his bone marrow transplant, Scheuerman travelled to Mount Robson in September to support Kasdorf who was running in the 50km ultra-marathon.
Without training he decided to run the 21km half marathon. He finished seventh out of 26 runners in the male 19-39 category with a time of 01:53:38.
At 32 years, outdoorsman and athlete who was loved by his North Coast community, Cody Scheuerman passed away on Jan. 4.
A celebration of life will be held at the Lester Centre in Prince Rupert, Saturday Jan. 20, 2 p.m.
READ MORE: MVP Of The Week - Cody Scheuerman, Running the race