My first CT Challenge took place barely a year after I had completed my treatment for breast cancer. Officially declared a survivor, the first thing I did was to go out and buy a road bike and my early morning rides became the highpoint in my day. The CT Challenge was to be the first fundraising event I had ever taken part in, and my goal was to get fit enough to ride further than I had ever done before – but the day was meaningful to me for a completely different reason.

First; there was the feeling of just being there. While I know I was just one of many riders, it all felt big to me because I had pushed myself beyond my comfort level, over and over again — both in training and fundraising.

Second, there was the excitement and energy of the riders, the volunteers and the spectators. Cyclists surrounded me, many in colorful jerseys, and all smiling happily. This cheerfulness was sincere and constant — before, during and after the ride. But most importantly, like me, they were doing something they love: cycling, and something they are passionate about: supporting cancer survivors. There were moments during the ride when the hills were tougher than I expected, but I felt strong and determined to finish. I felt lucky to be on my bicycle on a beautiful summer morning, surrounded by so many people that were there for the same reasons.

This brings me back to the beginning and how the Greenwich Associates Team got together. After becoming healthy again, I was stunned by the lack of resources available to the growing number of survivors, and the purpose of the CT Challenge gave me the resolve to make a contribution. Several weeks before last year’s event, I spontaneously sent out an e-mail to my colleagues at work asking if they were interested in joining me. The response was equally spontaneous, and went beyond my wildest expectations: within several hours we had a team of riders – and an ambitious fundraising goal!

I will continue to ride – not only in the CT Challenge but also on those early mornings – to honor all those who show unexpected and often heroic degrees of courage and strength to fight their disease to survive.

Almost 3 years ago, I was a young mother of two children ages 3 and 5. I had just moved to a new house and my husband and I decided to take our children for a bike ride in our neighborhood. This excursion saved my husbands life, and embarked my family in to a world that I never chose to enter.

Cancer chose my family. My husband, after a leisurely bike ride, was very winded and decided to undergo a physical. He knew he was tired, but honestly, who wasn’t with small children? We thought we were normal people living out a normal life. Then he was diagnosed with cancer. It was devastating. There were no symptoms. There were no signs. Peter, my husband was not even the ‘typical’ profile. He was just winded one day! This couldn’t happen. No one in our peer group had experienced cancer…or so we thought.

My brave husband Peter with the support of many friends, went through surgery, chemotherapy and is two years post treatment. Today through the grace of many miracles he is a cancer survivor. In the beginning we had thought this point would be the end. It is only the beginning.

Daily, I have watched cancer grow in my life. A friend was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, my father-in-law passed away from esophageal cancer this year, another friend was diagnosed with breast cancer, another with melanoma, my friends sister has lung cancer…cancer is not going away without a fight.

When Jeff and Karin Keith invited Peter and I to join them in support of the CT Challenge, we agreed and were excited to do so. Cancer SUCKS! Cancer survivorship RULES! I ride in 2008 for my husband a survivor, his mother a survivor, in memory of his father, for my children to know that cancer is not a death sentence. I ride this year to make a difference for my family and for the families just like mine. I ride to make sure that cancer survivorship increases for the third year in a row. I ride to make sure that dying from cancer one day becomes a thing of the past. I ride because I hate cancer and want to make a difference in the post treatment of cancer survivors.

Cancer is not going to go away. Cancer survivorship is only going to increase with the hard work of people who care, like all of the participants in the CT Challenge.

I ride for me, for my husband, for my children, for my family, for my friends, for my neighbors and for you. My wish is to ride and make a difference in one survivor’s life. The Yale Cancer Survivorship Center will make a difference in mine and I did not even know I needed it when Peter was diagnosed. I ride to make a difference for all cancer survivors!

Our story began on December 17th, 2002, when Luke, our eldest son, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He had just turned 5 years old. After 18 months of chemotherapy, he relapsed and it was clear he needed a bone marrow transplant to save his life. Luke’s little sister Grace, our ‘gift from God’, was a perfect match and the transplant was carried out on my father’s birthday, February 1st, 2005, at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Now, three and a half years later, he is a healthy and happy big brother to Nathan (7), Grace (6) and Bobby (2), a loving son to Brenda and me (though no kisses in public, please), every inch the normal 10 year old boy full of vitality and life.

Eighteen months after the transplant, sitting in the Darien movie theatre with Luke and Nathan, I happened to see a short film that told the story of the first CT Challenge in 2005. As I watched, two things struck me. The first was that now Luke himself was considered a cancer survivor – something which even now seems nothing short of a miracle – it was time to give something back. The second was that the 2006 ride was only one month away and that, never having ridden much further than the dry cleaners and back, I had better go and buy a bike. During that first ride, with my lungs near bursting point, the pain searing through my legs and the rain stinging my eyes, I had only to think of my son’s unending courage and determination during the years of hospital treatment to draw fresh inspiration. Last year, Luke, Gracie, Nathan and Bobby rode in the children’s ride, and Luke even led the lap of honor before the main ride. You might remember him, proudly leading the survivors in his red Manchester United soccer shirt.

Why do we ride? Of course we ride to raise as much money and awareness as we can to help those affected by the disease. We also ride to honor those who have survived, those who have succumbed, those who are battling with it as you read this, those who dedicate their lives and their careers to treating people affected by it and one day, we believe, finding a cure. Finally, we ride to remember our journey, and celebrate with all the friends and family that journeyed with us. Remembering helps us come to terms with what happened, to find a place for it in our lives, and to appreciate all the good things that flowed from it. To borrow from Lance Armstrong, whose foundation wrote Luke when he was first diagnosed to urge him (and us) to stay strong, the CT Challenge is not about the bike. It is a celebration of life by those who have learned to appreciate it.

For me, the most wonderful aspect of the CT Challenge was the sense of community I felt that day.  One of the most moving moments was at the beginning of the ride when all the cancer survivors that were participating in the ride were asked to ride around the green we were starting from.  There was not a dry eye among us.  We were all riding for the same cause, and we were all participating in a fun yet challenging ride.  Even after my ride was over, I hung out at the event with my family and friends cheering on the people who rode the 50 and 100 mile distances.  It was festive and joyful!

I ride because I can; to show myself and everyone that I can.

On July 11th, 2008, I joined what I’ve come to refer to as a “club”; that club is made up of Cancer Survivors. On that day, I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – Burkitt’s lymphoma. After finishing up treatments and having those 30+ days of hospitalization behind me I’ve changed my goal from personally beating cancer to helping others beat cancer. When I was getting treatments at Yale I saw the brochure for the CT Challenge. I made a promise to myself that I would ride in the next one, July 25, 2009.

Getting through treatments I was always very goal oriented, treatments were a way to beat this cancer. Once I can completed my treatments I wanted to continue fighting cancer and to help others beat cancer, the CT Challenge gave me an opportunity to do this. The CT Challenge has given me the opportunity to not only raise money to help those affected by cancer but also it gives me the opportunity to show myself and everyone else that cancer can be overcome. Choosing to ride and push myself further than I could before is a way I’ve decided to help show that cancer doesn’t have any say in how I live my life. Hope to see you at this year’s ride!

As a cancer survivor, I have experienced firsthand the difficulties and uncertainties that arise after you’re told the cancer is gone and you try to get back to who you were before your diagnosis. I can still recall a survivor friend telling me that I might not have the luxury of returning to who I once was because that person never had cancer. I soon realized that survivorship was very complex and that I would need considerable support from my family and friends as I created my “new normal.”

I enjoyed a very meaningful career in museums prior to being treated for Hodgkin’s disease in 2006 and I assumed I would successfully return to it after my treatments ended. In short time, I discovered that my goals for the museums I worked for were more meaningful to who I was before my diagnosis. Instead, I decided to bring my professional skills to a position that would benefit cancer patients and their families.

In April 2007, I joined Yale Cancer Center as Associate Director of Development. I am privileged to be part of a team of doctors, nurses, researchers and staff whose tireless efforts translate scientific advances into valuable new therapies that directly benefit the patients in their care and others across the country and around the world.

This year I ride for two people in particular. I ride for my three-year old son Owen, who is thrilled that his Daddy is helping to build a hospital even though I am not operating heavy construction equipment! And for my wife Carrie, in appreciation for the love and support she gave me throughout months of treatment, during the unexpected challenges of survivorship, and now as we continue to adjust to our life together that is both normal and new.

My motivation to ride in the Connecticut Challenge has come from many places, but most importantly, from the m any other cancer survivors I have met along my own survivorship journey who have shown me that the need for support and education continues long after the treatments end. I hope my ride inspires other cancer survivors to “LIVESTRONG” and fight the fight, by participating in events like these, educa ting themselves on how to be true survivors and to take advantage of the many new survivorship programs that are being developed every day at places l ike the Connecticut Challenge Survivorship Clinic.

Riding gives me inspiration, hope and encouragement that I can take back control of my life, live it on my own terms and be a “survivor” and not a victim of this nasty disease. I ride to keep my own spirits high, for all the other survivors who need motivation and resources like the new Survivorship Clinic and for my two young daughters, in the hope that they only experience ca ncer themselves through the joys of participating in fun events like the Connecticut Challenge!

I volunteer because as Lance Armstrong said, “Cancer may leave your body, but it never leaves your life.”  As a long-term survivor of multiple cancers, I know that psychological and medical support for cancer related issues are needed long after recovery from surgeries and treatments have ended.  The needs of survivors can be vastly different from those in the acute phase of the disease. Survivors need help adjusting to the “new normal” that comes after the treatments have ended and transitioning to living their new lives “post-cancer.”  The Survivorship Clinic at the Yale Cancer Center is here to serve this purpose — improving the lives of those who have survived cancer.  These services did not exist in Connecticut when I was a new “survivor” so, I volunteer for me.  But, more importantly, I volunteer for all the survivors to come.  No one should have to face survivorship alone.

When I was 17, my high school classmates of ’71 in Trumbull, were preparing for graduation, dancing at proms, learning how to put on makeup, and I was up on Hunter 5 (Yale’s Oncology floor), dancing with IV poles, having non air conditioned nuclear medicine scans, and learning how to fix my wig so it would not fall off.   Yes, I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer, just after my 16th birthday, and got spun into a world I did not know and that I would not change a bit, thanks to the Yale New Haven Medical Center.  The Cancer Center had not even opened yet, but Yale was trying and on the forefront of the cancer trials. I was lucky to be part of those trials.  I just found out about the Survivorship Clinic about 5 months ago.  Until then – for the last 37 years – I thought that I have been out here all alone, speaking with the American Cancer Society, working as a Mammographer, specializing in breast cancer (I am also a Yale graduate in Radiography), not knowing that the HEROS survivorship clinic had been growing.  More so because I moved to American’s Finest City, San Diego, CA, when given permission, by my then GYN/oncologist, Dr. Ernest Kohorn (retired) and Dr. Joseph Bertino, transferring my health care to UCSD.

I’m volunteering to help the Connecticut Challenge because, not only is it always time to give back, but time to give back to YALE for saving my life, giving me a chance to live life, and live it to the fullest extent as a survivor, a “club” to which I feel a great privilege and honor to belong!  I think the Connecticut Challenge is a great place for me to start!

The Connecticut Challenge caught my attention for several reasons: I’d never thought much about what happens after someone beats cancer.  Surviving was the key.  It still is and thankfully, more and more people are surviving, including my Mom and Dad.  But I’ve watched them deal with some of the longer term effects of their treatment.  The CT Challenge gave me a way to respond to the helplessness I sometimes feel with some of the things they’re experiencing.  Plus, I am very intrigued by the idea that in exploring the effects of cancer treatments on survivors and ways to address them, doctors and researchers are in a position to discover treatments for other diseases.

Also, I loved that the CT Challenge was something I could do with my nine-year-old son. It was a great chance for us to connect while connecting with those we could help with our efforts.  It’s so important to teach our kids to give back to the world, to people who may not be in the same position we are to help, either physically, emotionally or financially.  On top of all this, the CT Challenge was a blast!