Luka .

In the mountains, you quickly learn how to read the sky. A shift in the light, a change in the wind, and you know a storm is coming. This winter, our family saw that kind of sky roll in. Luka, 15, a skier and cyclist to his core, was diagnosed with cancer.

Luka has been working at Boutique UBAC in Bromont since he was 14. For him, biking and skiing aren’t hobbies — they are his way of being in the world. Four or five outings a week, and when he’s not on the slopes or on his bike, he’s on the floor at UBAC. That’s where he learned what it means to work, to commit, to be part of something bigger than yourself.

When the difficult moment came to tell Marc-André, Caroline, Antoine, and Mélina that Luka would have to leave his job to focus on his health, we expected understanding. We did not expect what happened next. His resignation was refused. The response was simple, direct, and without hesitation: Luka is part of the team, and in hard times, we stand together. Whether it takes a week, a month, or a year — his place will be waiting for him. To make the message unmistakable, they gave him a t-shirt and a hoodie in the store’s colors, as if to say: you’re on pause, we’ve got your wheel. In the middle of the storm, that was our first break of light.

A few days later, Marc-André, Caroline, and part of the team showed up at our house with a card signed by all his coworkers, and with an idea. Since Luka wouldn’t be able to ride this summer, they would ride for him. On his birthday in April, Team UBAC was officially born, with Marc-André and Antoine in the peloton.

Marc-André covered the registration fees for the younger team members, because this is their first fundraiser and that should never be a barrier. In cycling, we know this: a peloton never leaves anyone behind. You share the wind, you take a turn when someone is exhausted — and Team UBAC simply did what a good peloton does.

Then the treatments began, along with the side effects, and one afternoon we received a video call from the shop. The team had decided to get the same haircut as Luka. It’s these small gestures — quiet, sincere, tangible — that make all the difference in a storm. You won’t see them on Instagram and there won’t be a Facebook post. That’s simply not who Marc-André, Caroline, Antoine, and Mélina are. Their generosity doesn’t seek attention. It settles gently but firmly, like a hand on your back at the top of a steep climb. They do good because that’s what you do for the people you love.

We don’t wish for any young person to ever have to face cancer. But we do wish that every young person could have their first job at UBAC.