A Penticton RCMP officer who made headlines with his successful battle against cancer made the long trip to Vancouver this past weekend to offer support and encouragement to a little boy now staging his own battle against cancer.
Cpl. Dan Moskaluk, who has more than 32 years of service with the RCMP and has acted as the Southeast District Media Relations officer since 2009, read a Facebook account about young Wills Hodgkinson, 7, and decided he would contact the family to offer support.
This past Saturday, Moskaluk and his wife Sheanne, travelled to Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver to visit Wills and his family.
By mere coincidence, Moskaluk discovered that Wills and his family lived in Naramata, which he has called home for several years.
“When I read about his battle with kidney cancer, which I had been through … I felt we were kindred spirits and that I could offer some kind of support and encouragement,” said Moskaluk.
After contacting Wills’ father, Moskaluk was given permission to visit the family at Ronald McDonald House.
During his visit on Saturday, Moskaluk stayed more than two hours and he and Wills and his family had a great time.
“We met in a common area and I met Wills and his family and a couple of other families who had children who were also undergoing treatment,” he said. “I presented Wills with a couple of special gifts, including a brand new RCMP forage cap and he really seemed to enjoy that.”
It has become a tradition for visitors to Ronald McDonald House to ride down an indoor playground slide and Moskaluk joined the fun while wearing his full RCMP red serge uniform.
“That gave him a couple of good laughs and it was a lot of fun,” said Moskaluk.
Wills is a typical, fun-loving youngster and he’s really glad he took the time to visit him, said Moskaluk.
“I had the time to talk to his parents and they told me about his ups and downs and his good days and bad days, but they said Saturday was a really good day because of my visit, so that made me feel really good,” he said.
When he informed Wills that Naramata was home, the youngster just smiled and they talked about how much they both loved living there, he said.
Moskaluk made national headlines in the fall of 2013 ago when he divulged he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and doctors have given him only months to live.
Based on extensive research conducted by his wife relating to diet and battling cancer, Moskaluk and his wife of 28 years immediately switched to a strict plant-based diet and it worked miracles as Moskaluk was declared free of cancer within months.
More than four years later, Moskaluk said he’s completely cancer free and has never felt better physically in his life.
His wife also lost more than 120 pounds as a result of the switch in diet, he said.
He and his wife’s journey was profiled in the acclaimed documentary called Eating You Alive.
“This is the first health-based documentary that is going to be released in theatres across the United States, beginning April 1,” said Moskaluk. “There are also plans in the work to get it shown in theatres across Canada and the United Kingdom in the coming months.”
The documentary was shown before two sold-out audiences at the Shatford Centre in Penticton a couple of years ago.
Moskaluk said he “wouldn’t be alive today” without the dedication and support of his wife and her tireless work relating to switching to a plant-based diet after his cancer diagnosis.
Moskaluk and his wife will be in attendance on Sunday when a special fundraiser is held to raise funds for Wills and his family at the Penticton indoor soccer complex from 2-4:30 p.m.
