Family "vacation” has taken on a whole different meaning for one Whitehorse family.

Nathalie Dugas, her husband, Sean Mather, and their two boys – nine-year-old Liam and six-year-old Sam – packed up their gear and headed to Quebec to be part of the Cyclebetes National Relay Team in Nathalie's home province last month.

The relay is a national effort aimed at raising awareness about Type 1 diabetes, a disease close to the family's heart, as Liam deals with it on a daily basis.

"We do it for the cause, but we get a lot out of it ourselves,” Dugas said in an interview last Thursday afternoon as she recalled the four-day journey from the New Brunswick/Quebec border to Ottawa that began Aug. 17.

The full national relay started in Halifax on Aug. 14 and was expected to end last weekend in Victoria.

Being part of the Quebec portion of the trip meant the family of four was among 10 riders taking one-hour shifts on a tandem bike.

Despite the long days riding – waking up at 5:30 a.m. to get going and travelling in the support vehicle – Dugas said the whole family enjoyed themselves.

"We had a really, really good time,” she said, adding that Liam was always ready to go further by the time his shift was up.

Sam was also a trooper, using an extension so he could reach the pedals on the tandem bike and taking on some very challenging hills on Day 1.

While she and Sean weren't sure Sam would make it through the hour-long ride that day, he proved his parents wrong and got into the ride more and more as the four days went by.

While Liam joined his parents during last year's Cyclebetes relay through Quebec, this marked Sam's first year on the tour.

"The kids loved it,” Dugas said, praising her sons as "good little ambassadors” for the cause.

Along with the cycling, the ride provided an opportunity to speak to others about the disease. Liam let those interested know what it's like to have Type 1 diabetes and what a cure would mean to him.

Dugas was also pleased that Liam got to meet others with diabetes, including a 73-year-old who was part of the ride. That showed him that diabetes doesn't have to stop him from doing anything.

In a statement prior to the ride, Dugas noted the impact a cure would have on her family and others.

"A cure for Type 1 would drastically (change) the lives of millions of children and families worldwide who join the daily struggle to keep blood sugars in a safe range to live,” she said at the time.

"It is hard to imagine the joy and relief that a cure would bring our family. To think that Liam could live a normal life, without poking his fingers every few hours and without worrying about every gram of carbohydrates he eats, would be incredible.

"For parents like us, Type 1 does not take a break or have a holiday; we just worry all the time that Liam might suffer the complications of a sudden drop in blood sugar.”

It could also mean not having to take Liam from Whitehorse to Vancouver for medical appointments.

It was during one of those trips a couple of years ago that Dugas and Mather first learned about what was then Team H2V (Halifax to Vancouver).

The team was formed by Kyle Balagno, who decided, with four of his friends, to travel across the country relay-style in nine days raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

That initiative came out of a promise Balagno made to his daughter, who suffers from Type 1 diabetes, that he would do everything in his power to find a cure for diabetes before she graduated from high school.

The group managed to raise more than $1 million for the foundation and the relay was born.

After reading about Team H2V in Vancouver, Dugas made a donation and made sure to get on the e-mail list for updates.

When the event began taking on riders last year, the family decided to be part of the effort.

Dugas noted when Liam was first diagnosed with diabetes, she took part in marathons and other efforts to raise awareness and funds for diabetes research and services, but this is an event the entire family can be part of.

"It's great to do stuff (like this) with the kids,” she said, also adding it was great to see just how much the relay had grown over the year, with volunteers giving up their time to cook meals and help in whatever ways they could.

With the family set to travel out of the country next year, Dugas said, they won't be able to participate as riders, but hope to be involved in some way and continue that involvement in future years.