The Long Road Back
For nearly a lifetime, Mark Diotte has cycled the roads of Langley and the West Coast, solo or with clubs and teams. It’s as if cycling is his life source - and in fact, that’s exactly what it turned out to be.
Mark, a 20 year Langley resident, travels on two wheels an average of 10,000 kilometres a year and has logged as many as 17,000 in one year. His history in the cycling world reads like an atlas: Seattle to Portland in a day, Mt Baker up and down and Kelowna to North Delta regularly.
He has belonged to and founded several clubs and spent years raising money for childhood cancer with Bayview Cycling’s “Ride for Kids.” With Team Coastal, he launched the “Ride to Survive” Cancer fundraising ride in 2002 which continued for many years.
Until recently, intense training filled the days of the 73-year-old retiree, along with volunteering at Langley Memorial Hospital for the last two years.
The moment that changed everyone took place on an unremarkable ride about 18 months ago. His foot slipped off the chain side of his bike, cutting a deep wound in his calf.
“I should have gone to the hospital for stitches,” he admits today. Instead, Mark, who has always taken pride in his high tolerance for pain, quickly bandaged himself up and kept going.
When he finally visited Langley Memorial Hospital for treatment, tests revealed a blood clot and blockage in his urethral canal. After a first surgery to treat it, a targeted MRI screening revealed the next startling discovery: a handful of cells that pointed to prostate cancer.
A second procedure took place on June 20, 2025 with Dr. Alexandra Perks and Dr. Jason Archambault. With 22 staples, recovery was slow and humbling at best. After months of dealing with the incontinence familiar to urology patients, he healed with the help of physiotherapy.
In November 2025, Mark got back on his bike saddle and set out on a gradual path to regain his strength and mileage. By mid-month, he’d logged 70 new kilometres on his bike.
The road back has inspired a renewed appreciation for medical caregivers. In fall of 2025, he made a donation to Langley Community Health & Hospital Foundation in gratitude for the excellent care he received from Drs. Perks and Archambault and their surgical teams. It felt right, he says, to give back to the hospital that had helped him restore his health, strength and mobility.
“It’s a privilege to be a donor, knowing that maybe I could be a help to someone in a small way. [That person] could be either a medical professional or a person facing similar circumstances as I have.”
Back on the bike, Mark’s thoughts return to the strange twist of fate that saved his life and deepened his relationship with Langley Memorial.
“If I hadn’t had that bike accident, I would never have known that I had cancer building in my system.”
Reflecting on his road back to health, he says that his consistent communication with Dr. Perks was key to recovery.
“Dr. Perks gave me some comfort and confidence that at the end of the day things would work out,” he recalls.
“When you hear the word ‘cancer’ you think immediately it’s life-ending. It’s normal to be scared out of your wits.
“All the way through she was very helpful and reassuring that things take time to heal. It’s been a journey, but she and the health system have got me through it all.”