By Alicia Sands
Cycle for Survival, an annual life-affirming, national team cycling event and fundraiser that supports cutting-edge cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), has found growing popularity and support right here in Chappaqua.
Several teams of Chappaqua women (including my own team: Fearless4Jen) cycled at Equinox gyms this past March to raise money for the event, which happens to have been founded in 2007 by a fearless superwoman, a generous and loving aunt to my four kids and my steadfast friend for more than 25 years, Jennifer Goodman Linn, as a way to thank the doctors and nurses who had treated her in her battle against sarcoma. Even one of the Chappaqua under-10 boys baseball teams was sponsored this year by the event.
Every dollar of the over $20 million that was raised just this last year will be put to crucial use in 28 different Memorial Sloan Kettering labs and clinics. That’s because 100% of donated funds go directly to MSKCC.
The funds raised target a wide range of rare cancers, including all pediatric cancers, carcinoma, leukemia, lymphoma, sarcoma, melanoma, pancreatic, ovarian, brain and thyroid cancers, and many more. Cycle for Survival has fully funded 85 clinical trials and research studies at MSKCC. In total, Cycle has raised more than $51.5 million since its inception more than seven years ago!
Please support your neighbors by attending the next Chappaqua fundraiser in early 2015 (stay tuned for more info!), as we gear up for our March 2015 ride. For more information on Cycle for Survival or to make a donation, please visit www.cycleforsurvial.org. For information on local Cycle for Survival events, please email chappaquacycle4survival@gmail.com and you will be added to our mailing list.
Alicia Sands is a psychiatric social worker who has been living in Chappaqua for the past four years with her husband and four children.