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!

Tags: cancer survivor, cancer survivorship, charity bike ride, childhood cancer, childhood cancer survivor, clark swim team, clark university swim, connecticut challenge, ct challenge athlete, mike smith, non-hodgkin's lymphoma, survivor, young cancer survivors, young cancer survivors coalition, young survivors