Jason Kom-Tong, founder of Endless Spirit Foundation. (Michelle Hansen Photography)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

a place to thrive and have fun

Endless Spirit walking sports foundation for cancer patients and survivors takes off in Red Deer

Mar 15, 2023 | 10:01 AM

A Red Deer cancer survivor eagerly desires to give central Albertans with similar diagnoses a new outlet.

Jason Kom-Tong has launched the Endless Spirit Foundation, which will begin with a focus on providing opportunities to play walking soccer, walking basketball and frisbee golf.

The mission of Endless Spirit, he says, is to encourage people who’ve received a cancer diagnosis to lead full and active lives by improving their physical and psychological well-being.

The idea for the foundation came to Kom-Tong’s mind when, he says, he discovered there was a serious lack of support or choices within the community.

Kom-Tong, a father of two and author of ‘The Dangerous Mind of a Dying Man,’ was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2013.

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Understanding the need for more or different types of resources for cancer patients and survivors comes from his own lived experience.

“Just like everyone hearing it for the first time, I wasn’t prepared for those words. In a flash, panic sets in and your world literally changes in the blink of an eye. And while the doctor is setting up appointments, scans, and biopsies, you’re left sitting there, in a fog, thinking of how your life may be cut short and thinking, ‘What in the hell do I do now?’ Who am I letting down? Who will I be a burden to? And who am I leaving alone in this world?,'” he says.

“I would be leaving my four-year-old daughter and six-year-old son without a father, and my wife to raise them on her own.”

Jason Kom-Tong after his first cancer surgery. Kom-Tong ultimately lost his tongue. (Supplied)

At one point, Kom-Tong, who ultimately lost his tongue, was told he had three months to live.

“I came as close to death as humanly possible,” he says. “The mental strain is more than I can speak about, because words alone can’t describe it, but there were and still are many mental struggles and emotional breakdowns.”

Kom-Tong says part of what Endless Spirit will do is ensure an array of opportunities, knowing that while cancer patients and survivors share the common thread of a diagnosis, their stories are vastly unique.

“Someone dealing with the complications of prostate cancer are facing way different hurdles than I was. Just like people battling breast cancer have different hurdles to overcome than someone with brain cancer. You can’t clump us all into one group or support group and expect it to work, which is why I approached this project in such a way. The only people that will really understand what they’re going through, are the ones that have gone through it, or are going through it,” he says.

“To have the most effective system in place, we need to become the hub for our local cancer community to allocate them into something they want to do to increase their level of activity and put them with like-minded people. But also with people who know what to do, say and share, because they have been there. It’s a way to help guide them and walk with them during this journey. They don’t need to feel alone anymore.”

Endless Spirit is inviting cancer patients, survivors and their families to upcoming dates where attendees can try the walking sports.

-April 20 at the Collicutt Centre: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. – walking soccer

-May 1 at the north Red Deer YMCA: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. – walking soccer and walking basketball

-May 13 at Great Chief Park (simultaneous with Fun Run and Xplore Sport Day): 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. – walking soccer and frisbee golf
*will also have welcome booth at Capstone from 12 to 4

May 27 at Red Deer Polytechnic Main Campus: 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. – walking soccer and walking basketball

Other dates are in the works, Kom-Tong says.

The hope is to eventually host bi-annual tournaments, along with regular talk sessions, practices and games.

Kom-Tong, a former oil and gas industry worker, hopes to expand offerings to includes axe throwing and bowling, once more sponsors come on board and they can grow capacity.

“Our hope is to become part of the fabric of our community,” he says. “My heart is invested in this, but my drive alone will not make this a success; I need the support of our community to back me and my team, that’s built up with members of our community that have rallied together, to improve the lives of thousands of people within our community.”

He adds that the goal is for Endless Spirit activities to be cost-free for participants.

To donate or to get information about sponsoring, visit the Endless Spirit GoFundMe, or email endlessspiritfoundation@gmail.com.

For more information about upcoming dates, times and how to register, visit the Endless Spirit Facebook page. The page to sign up is available here.