Cancer does not rest. It doesn’t need to stretch or take a water break.  Cancer doesn’t sleep at the end of the day. It doesn’t flee the cold for warm weather during school vacation. Cancer is relentless, showing no favorites and taking no prisoners. Rich or poor, educated or illiterate, young or old, it does not care. Cancer has no friends, no allies, and no comrades. It does its damage on its own. It is its own unforgiving army. It is insidious, creeping into the lives of everyone, leaving a path of destruction and tragedy in its wake. 

             When I say everyone, I mean everyone. Every single person on this earth has heard of, known, seen, or met someone who has had or does have cancer. Cancer chemotherapy has come a very long way in the past few years. For some the effects of chemotherapy are very minimal, but for others it is still excruciating. To name a few these effects may include: severe pain, kidney problems, muscle and nerve affects, and anemia.

I know what it feels like to have something creeping inside my body, and ripping it apart. For me it was arthritis. When I was young I was diagnosed with Juvenille Rheumatory Arthritis, an autoimmune disease that plagues nearly 300,000 children in the USA. In my case the joints in my knees would swell causing extreme pain, and stiffness. The drugs would make my heart race, and body ache. The pain would make me cry when walking, or hope when sitting that someday this thing would go away. Eventually it did, and I was one of the first children in the USA to have been diagnosed with JRA and overcome it. The incredible feeling I get when I know that the pain I grew up with, will not return is miraculous. All of this is possible because people believe that children should not have to suffer like this, and they invest in medical research. 

I feel the same way about cancer. It is not fair for people living healthy lives, to suddenly have to deal with death. The power of cancer is unreal. There is a little boy that I used to baby- sit know named Adam. He is one of those little kids that never stops smiling, and always wants to have fun. Even after 30,000 dollars that my mother and I raised to help support the bills, and medical examinations for Adam; he will not be living long enough to make it past third grade. In my mind this is horrifying. I know that everyone out there has similar stories. If you want to help prevent these life threatening stories, medical research is the way to do it. These organizations like the Dana Farber foundation, and Jimmy fund are exactly like the foundations that helped cure me, and they are the foundations that will cure cancer. 

   All 5,000 cyclists that participate in this event each ride for a different reason. Each person that donates, donates for a different reason. But we all have a common goal of making "cancer" an extinct word. What ever you amount you can give will make a difference!

    Thank You & Happy Cycling,

                        Alex Rossetti

Alexander's PMC Total

$5,630

Goal

$6,500

My Progress

My Online Supporters

My Rides