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Last October I participated in the first ever Changing Gears ride. This year I am excited and honored to be riding in the California and Australian legs of the Global Relay. Diagnosed with stage 2 invasive breast cancer in May, 2003 at 41 years young, I was overwhelmed by the choices available to heal my body. Once all my treatments were over I had no idea how to begin healing my soul. Ladies at support groups I tried, although brave and beautiful women, were on the average 20 – 30 years my senior with different emotional needs. I became involved in a great online support group at breastcancer.org which was incredibly helpful. However life’s demands don’t stop with cancer. Once work and responsibilities sneak back up on you, you just don’t have all that time to sit on the computer. So, time to suck it up and move on. I found out about the Changing Gears ride completely by accident and well after the deadline to apply for the 2004 ride. I shot off an email to the organizers asking to be put on the mailing list for 2005. As it happened one of the girls had to withdraw at the last minute leaving a space. I joined the ride and finally began a journey to emotional healing that I thought I had long finished! Every stop on last years ride there were young survivors. Far more than there should be. The message I kept getting over and over was how alone these young women had been feeling with not much hope for the future they had planned. Face it, most stories you hear of young women with cancer end tragically. The few stories of survival are usually about women who are famous and wealthy. Women we admire but whose lives are just so far removed from our reality. The great thing about changing gears is that it puts "normal" women in the spotlight. We are not celebrities. We are single, married, stay at home moms, working moms, single moms and childless. Big city dwellers and mid west country girls. Short, tall, chuncky and thin. Blonde, brunette, red head and bald. One breast, two breasts, no breasts and new breasts!! When other young women living with breast cancer see us, survival IS a reality, one to look forward to. Besides social awareness I am committed to raise money for Amazon Heart’s peer support program and events. My goal is $10,000. Research and development has made huge strides in our fight to survive breast cancer. Let’s take that a step farther to guarantee those who survive aren’t just alive, but living.
"Freewheeling: Two Bikers Hit the Road to Recovery"
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