My name is Renee Charbonneau and I am 49 years of age.  I ride a 2007 Street Glide, I have a wonderful business that I love to work at, a wonderful husband and a beautiful 25-year old daughter. I am known by many in the Canadian Motorcycle Community as Belt Drive Betty.

I had a car accident a number of years ago that altered my life in many ways.

Following a six year journey of personal discovery, I began a weekly newsletter called ‘The Busted Knuckle Chronicles’ which was intended to keep the riders of the North Peace regions of Alberta and British Columbia informed regarding events that we could attend within our community. I mistakenly assumed that riders in the northern regions were the only ones ‘hung out to dry’ on the information highway. The newsletter was my own personal job-creation project that would allow me to add value to my community and be a contributing member of society in spite of the physical challenges I have faced since the accident.

Over time, the newsletter has grown to become a true newspaper now published by a fellow rider, Fraser Wareham of the Moose Jaw Times Herald. Throughout this development our web site (www.beltdrivebetty.com) has undergone five revisions as we grow and learn. Our web mistress Ali has a lot of sweat equity in that site and we are fortunate that she is so passionate about fellow riders having a wonderful place to tell our stories and share our communities with others who may someday drop in on us.

I feel that I am a passionate, hard-working and dedicated individual and that I give of myself freely and frequently. It recently became apparent that I was not giving to the one person who deserves it the most – and now I am struggling with the burden of guilt.

Over seven years ago, my husband had an attack of what was believed to be Multiple Sclerosis. We were told the average attacks ranged from two and three years, so the longer the time since the last attack, the more confident we grew in our belief that it was a strange anomaly. Since no definitive diagnosis could be given until a second attack occurred, we stumbled along blindly thinking that the “attack” was a one time thing and carried on living our busy lives.

The newspaper began to grow and the business became a viable way for me to make a meagre living. I was constantly looking for things that I could do that would bring value to my community and hopefully one day add to my income.  I began hosting bike shows here in the north. The bike shows were successful and popular with the locals, but persuading people to include Grande Prairie Alberta on their touring destinations was challenging. Many of the Custom builders were deterred by the lengthy periods their businesses had to be closed for to attend, and our international visitors really hated all of the airline hassles and layovers - getting international bike builders to bring their motorcycles this far north was wildly expensive.

We received many requests to move the show to central Alberta, and my hubby supported me all of the way.  He worked as tirelessly as I did to realize, this vision of an outdoor show that rivalled anything in the U.S. right here in our own Canadian ‘backyard’.

The show failed for a number of reasons - uncooperative R.C.M.P, poor weather, etc. – it was a financial loss that almost financially destroyed the newspaper.  Afterwards, I re-dedicated myself to the paper, to rearranging the business and to developing our web site, all the while neglecting my husband’s health concerns.

Just recently the MS reared its ugly head again. He underwent prednisone treatments, which improved things so that we thought we were in the clear. I hit the road again to promote the business and participate in events.  I received a call that my hubby had taken a turn for the worse. I decided to alter my riding schedule, to have others to cover events and made it home to take him to his specialist’s appointment. This time, the conclusive diagnosis of MS made me evaluate what I am doing with my time. I just lost six years of his healthy time. Every time an MS patient has an attack, they lose something. They have to learn a new “normal”.

Will he ride his Road King again? Will we ever ride side by each down the road together, sharing the fresh air and scenery? I do not know. All I know is this is a hard way to learn about putting the ones you love first…there really is no tomorrow – only today.

Balancing the debt load, the work load and my time with my best friend is something I need to learn – NOW!

If our story does anything positive to help other couples put each other first, I will be grateful – because I really dread the guilt and remorse, the ‘what if’s’…and I don’t wish those feelings on anyone. Being ‘Belt Drive Betty’ is wonderful, but somewhere along the way I lost Renee Charbonneau. I need to find her again. I have sacrificed so much without realizing it. I am living a cliché – you don’t know what you have until it’s gone…

www.beltdrivebetty.com