A quartet of seniors — their average age is 68 — took off on their bicycles from Arizona this week on a cross-country trek to raise awareness about pediatric cancer.
The effort, called SammyRides, was triggered by the death of cyclist Michael Libenson's granddaughter, Samantha Rotman, at age 9 after a two-year battle with pediatric cancer.
Libenson, 73, Mike Brown, 62, Adolf Lex, 71, and John Baer, 64, left from Sun City, Arizona, on Wednesday and are headed 2,400 miles to their homes at Sun City, Florida. They were joined by well-wishers and fellow cyclists, above, for the first leg of their journey toward Phoenix.
Horrible disease
At the SammyRides website, Libenson is quoted:
“My granddaughter, Sammy, died from osteo sarcoma. She was only 9. I hope that our ride will support cancer research so that no other children need to suffer from this horrible sickness. I am so grateful to all our Greater Sun City Center neighbors for joining us in this battle…each in his/her own way.”
The four are being trailed by a car driven by Libenson's wife, Lois, who has undergone EMT training. Another car is carrying the group's treasurer and coordinator.
Spreading the word
They'll hook up with supporters and fund-raisers along the route, do what they can to raise awareness about pediatric cancer, and visit children's hospitals.
They've already spread the word at their base in Greater Sun City, Florida, and the departure point in Arizona, according to the SammyRides blog. They stopped at the Phoenix Children's Hospital that first day, then bicycled to Apache Junction the second day to visit members of Soroptimist International. The third day took them to Superior for another pot luck dinner at the Presbyterian Church.
They're sponsored by the Sacramento-based nonprofit Team Will, which calls itself a community of cyclists of all skill levels and ages committed to raising public awareness and fund for childhood cancer research and family resources through a mixture of cycling activities and events.
The SammyRides cyclists are looking for other cyclists to ride alongside as they continue cross-country. If you'd like to meet up with them for a day on this worthwhile venture, here is their itinerary .
You can read more about SammyRides at the TampaBay Online and East Valley Tribune.
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