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!

Riding in CTC 2005 was an incredibly enriching experience! I hadn’t ridden a bike in years, but when Jeff Keith invited me to ride, there was only one answer. I bought a bike and registered for the 25-mile ride. I dedicated my ride to a friend recently diagnosed with lung cancer, and I contacted my sponsors. Weekend training increased my self-confidence, Jeff’s incredible energy and spirit drove my determination, and I stepped up to the 50-mile ride. The mix of emotion during my ride, and approaching the finish line, is hard to describe — proud to be helping a worthy cause, blessed to be physically able, thankful for the support I had received. A few weeks later I attended the reception at Yale New Haven Cancer Center at which Bike Across America Connecticut Challenge presented a check for $300,000, and I can tell you there were many angels dancing in that room.

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!

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.

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!

The very hill that riders of the CT Challenge are going to pass over this year, may have in fact saved my life on a ride two years ago.

It was after a bike ride with my wife and children in Greenfield Hill that I noticed I was unusually winded and unable to keep up with my family. This was the impetus that prompted me to get a physical, the very one that diagnosed me ultimately with colon cancer. At the time I was 38, had two children ages 2 and 4 and a beautiful wife. I was busy building my career, my family and my life. I didn’t have time to feel tired or sick, but who wasn’t tired with all of those responsibilities. It wasn’t until I couldn’t physically pedal up Bronson Road that I decided to investigate.

Since that ride it has been a long road for me; a diagnosis of colon cancer, surgery, a week in a coma, 6 months of chemotherapy. Since ending my treatment it has been a year and currently I am without any trace of cancer.

This year I will ride in the CT Challenge because I can!  I will ride to raise money for a very noble cause, The Survivorship Clinic at Yale Cancer Center, I will ride for my mother, a cancer survivor.  I will ride for my friends that have been diagnosed with cancer.  I will ride for the support of all of my friends and family who helped me in my battle and for everyone who has been touched by this horrible disease.  I will ride to create awareness and to create solidarity for the cancer survivor community.  Cancer, for the first time ever, has declined for the second year in a row.  I will ride to keep that statistic going!

But mostly I will ride for the future.  I will ride for the promise of better cures, better treatment, better awareness and for someday I hope, a cure.

This year when I ride up the hill on Bronson Road as the captain of Team Noble Cause, along with the hundreds of riders in the CT Challenge, I will remember my ride two years ago.  This time I will know that the road AND the ride are going to make a difference!

The simple answer is .. have you ever tried to say “no” to Jeff Keith, it’s impossible. Jeff invited me into his living room, outlined his vision for a premier Cancer Survivorship Center at Yale, explained why this center is so important to the people and cancer survivors in Connecticut, and asked for my help.  Jeff is a real hero with everything he has been through.  For me the ride is personal, I ride for Jeff and to help him fulfill his vision of building a world class survivorship center at Yale for the people of Connecticut.

The Connecticut Challenge was a very fun and inspirational day for me. Although I would not consider myself a biker, the event provided me the opportunity to grow physically and mentally while recognizing those people I know that have battled cancer. Participating in the event gave me the opportunity to reflect on just how many friends and family members have been affected by cancer. It was a wonderful chance to contribute to a great cause and grow personally in the process.

The CT Challenge is more than just a bike ride. The CT Challenge is an idea, a radial concept that seems so simple but only recently has come to light. The idea of working with and addressing the post-treatment concerns of cancer survivors was not on the radar of health care providers, insurance companies, or the general public for years; however, as a cancer survivor, these thoughts and concerns have been in the back of my mind for over 8 years. The CT Challenge is an opportunity for anyone who has been affected by cancer in some way to step up, grind out the miles on their bikes over some beautiful and challenging hills, and raise money and awareness for a much needed cause.

I was diagnosed with stage II testicular cancer in 1998 when I was 22. At that time, I was finishing graduate school, and a cancer diagnosis was an unforeseen obstacle that I had to overcome to continue on with my life. The surgeries and chemotherapy treatments I received saved my life, but more than 8 years later I still live with side effects from those interventions. After numerous consults with various doctors, I felt that these side effects would be a permanent reminder of my battle with cancer, and that I could not do anything about them.

This is why the CT Challenge is vital to the 100,000+ cancer survivors in the state of CT, and as a model for the over 10 million cancer survivors in the country. The CT Challenge has created the funds to start Connecticut’s only survivorship clinic at Yale New Haven Hospital in October 2006. This clinic addresses the specific concerns of us after we have finished our active treatments, including returning to exercising, eating right to regain strength and to prevent a reoccurrence, and dealing with the psychosocial aspects of being a cancer survivor. Lance Armstrong has said that “life after cancer is all about living,” and he’s right. It’s not enough to just barely make it through the tough treatments to rid our bodies of cancer. We as cancer survivors should carry on our lives with confidence. The CT Challenge and the CT Challenge Survivorship Clinic empowers cancer survivors to continue forward to overcome any obstacle that comes our way.