Frida Kvist Nielsen was just 11 years old when she was diagnosed with cancer. Three years after being declared cancer-free, she cycled the final 300 metres of the route from Aalborg to Paris — an experience that gave her the courage to take on the entire journey. Primarily to give something back to the Danish Childhood Cancer Foundation, but also to complete what felt like ‘the impossible’.
On a July day in 2022, Frida Kvist Nielsen cycled the final 300 metres into Paris. Riding her father’s bike, leading Team Rynkeby Nordjylland, and exactly ten years after her mother had discovered a strange lump on Frida’s left buttock.
What was initially just a check for tick bites after a summer house trip turned into a two-year battle with cancer — and, indirectly, also marked the beginning of a love affair with Team Rynkeby.
“It was an absolutely amazing feeling to be allowed to ride the final 300 metres into Paris at the front of Team Rynkeby Nordjylland. I could really feel the incredible sense of community, and it gave me the motivation to want more. So, when I got off the bike, my dad and I agreed that it should be a shared experience in 2023,” says Frida Kvist Nielsen, today 24 years of age.
Poor odds
In the autumn of 2012, Frida Kvist Nielsen received her cancer diagnosis. She had soft tissue tumours, the disease had spread to her left groin, and there were metastases in her abdomen. She was 11 years old, the odds of survival were not good, and just a few days later Frida Kvist Nielsen travelled from Aalborg to Skejby Hospital with her parents to begin her first round of chemotherapy.
Nineteen months later, Frida Kvist Nielsen completed her treatment, and after five years of follow-up scans, she was declared cancer-free in the spring of 2019.
“I don’t remember those 19 months very clearly. Yes, it was a tough time, but I absolutely refused to be confined to bed. I even arranged ‘isolation school’ with a couple of healthy classmates, because with my weakened immune system I couldn’t attend my normal class. Otherwise, what I remember most clearly is the conversation where I was declared disease-free and the doctor said: ‘I didn’t think we would be sitting here today, Frida’,” she says, adding:
“That was the day I realised that I bloody well could do things.”
Wants to give other children experiences through the childhood cancer foundation
Throughout her illness, the Danish Childhood Cancer Foundation played a major role in Frida Kvist Nielsen’s life — offering help and support to both her and her family, as well as organising various trips.
That was also why her father signed up to ride with Team Rynkeby the year after Frida Kvist Nielsen was declared cancer-free. He wanted to show his gratitude by giving something back — and Team Rynkeby raises funds every year for, among others, the Danish Childhood Cancer Foundation. In fact, it was the same sense of gratitude that motivated Frida Kvist Nielsen to sign up for Team Rynkeby in the autumn of 2022.
“I am extremely grateful for what the Childhood Cancer Foundation has done for me and my family, so if I could give something back, I wanted to do that. The support and the trips played a big, positive role during my illness. So, I wanted to cycle to Paris if it could mean that other children could have the same trips, experiences and friendships that I have had through the Childhood Cancer Foundation,” says Frida Kvist Nielsen.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, her father’s first ride to Paris ended up taking place in 2022 — the year Frida Kvist Nielsen experienced the magic of Team Rynkeby for the first time by cycling the final few hundred metres into the ‘city of cities’.