Bike With Mike And Help Kids with Cancer
It’s about 5:30 AM as I begin this post. I usually am awakened right around now by my Sister’s four dogs, two of which bark excitedly as they are let out of her bedroom for their morning constitutional and breakfast. And I usually go back to sleep. But today I woke up spontaneously to blessed silence and found myself eyes wide open and thinking of an email I got yesterday from a former employer and steadfast friend, Mike McIntyre.
Mike is one of the people in my life I know I can count on when there is something untrivial going on and I need help. Mike is deeply involved in a Foundation to support research for childhood cancers. I’ll incorporate the text of his email to me later in this post. But let me first provide the link to Mike’s Great Cycle Challenge page. I just made a donation there, and I’m also going to sign up to put some miles in on my own bike (the self–propelled one, yes I do have one) in further support of the cause: https://www.greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/MichealAMcIntyre.
But first, a little bit about Mike and our time together. Let me begin with our most recent encounter. I had put out one of the emails I periodically send to a group of friends to keep them informed of the goings on in my life. These are of a varied nature, often passing on something interesting I came across, sometimes somewhat lengthy essays on something really interesting, at least to me. I keep the surviving recipients on a distribution list — by surviving I mean the ones that haven’t replied and told me to take them off the list for one reason or another. At the end of one of these emails, I put out a plea for some help humping the last remaining big piece of furniture up the half–flight of stairs leading to my new apartment. Mike responded saying he would come over and help me. I last saw him before the pandemic when we met for breakfast out at the intersection of State Road 252 and U.S. 202 above Paoli.
And now, Heeeeeeere’s Mike! This was after we got that chest of drawers up the stairs and into my bedroom. He had just told me about his involvement with the Foundation and asked if this pose would help with spreading the news about it.
And here is his pic from his Great Cycle Challenge page:
OK I was going to relate some notorious incidents from my time working with Mike, but let’s keep this post focused on him and his Quest. Here’s the text of the email he sent me yesterday:
I am wondering if you have headed south on your motorcycle yet. I was thinking this time of year, with its tropical storms, might not be the best time to be traveling south on two wheels.
I am on two wheels myself this September. However, my wheels need to be pedaled. I will pushing myself to ride 700 miles in month-long event to raise funds for Children’s Cancer Research Fund. At 70 years of age, this will not be an easy task. However, I am passionate about the cause and will push myself to hopefully encourage donations. (FYI: the distance from Broomall to Jacksonville is 839 miles.)
Why am I so passionate about this event?
Years ago, my best friend lost his daughter to brain cancer. This year, a high school classmate (Class of 1969) is watching her granddaughter battle the same disease. Decades have passed between the two events, yet treatments for this form of pediatric cancer have remained nearly the same. Why, haven’t there been more advances, because only 4% of federal cancer research money is directed towards pediatric cancers, and almost zero dollars are given to fund early stage research. This is why foundations like the Children’s Cancer Research Fund are so important to funding those doing innovative and groundbreaking research.
Please take a look at my Great Cycle Challenge page. If you think there is even one individual in your network of associates who would be interested in supporting me in this event, it would be worth the time you spent sharing the link.
https://www.greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/MichealAMcIntyre
Thanks for the consideration and safe travels, whenever they happen to start.
Mike
I’ll just close with the comment I posted this morning on Mike’s page when I made my donation. If you feel the same way I do about these heart–wrenching stories of kids fighting for their lives, visit the page yourself and make your own donation, or better yet, sign up to Bike With Mike.
“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to support Mike in this most worthy of possible quests. I use the word “quest”, because like Don Quixote’s serial tilts against windmills, the fight against pediatric cancers is more or less where it was TWENTY YEARS AGO. This is due almost entirely to the mind–boggling fact that only about 4% of Federal funding for cancer research goes to pediatric cancers, and virtually NONE for early stage diagnosis and treatment. This is obscene. Geezers like Mike and me have lived our lives, but children are just beginning theirs. Every life saved is precious beyond measure.”
All the best,
From Tampa, FL on Tuesday, 08/17 at 7 PM
Rex
