Year 35 and Counting
I am very excited to be able to ride with the Durango Derailers this year. While it is my fifth year with the team, our riding was done individually. While the team is mostly from Durango, there are members from other areas of Colorado. Yeah team!
Can you believe I started riding the Courage Classic for Children's Hospital 35 years ago and have ridden it ever since? I am so lucky to have participated in this ride for all these years. Obviously, the Courage Classic is a huge event in my life. Each year I look forward to the training and the ride itself. Yes, the next paragraph talks about Forest, one of the children who has been the recipient of care from Children's Hospital, but I also feel myself a recipient of Children's Hospital care. That is because I have been able to take part in this ride and raise support for the hospital at the same time. Again I am totally looking forward to the training and the ride. WHAT FUN!!!
Why I ride
I ride to give hope to Children's Hospital Colorado patients like Forest.
Forest's parents Gladys and Casey knew they would be spending a few weeks at Children's Hospital Colorado after his birth in 2016, far away from their home in Montana. In utero, Forest was diagnosed with heart defects that would require open heart surgery at 7 days old. What they didn't see coming was Forest's rare diagnosis of CHARGE syndrome, a craniofacial disorder that, among other symptoms, sometimes caused Forest to stop breathing. Forest and his parents spent the first six months of his life in the Cardiac ICU at Children's Colorado.
In 2019, Gladys and Casey made the difficult decision to move to Colorado to be closer to the expert care at Children's Colorado. During that time, Courage Classic team members began riding in honor of Forest, and Casey began riding himself in 2020. At the 2024 Courage Classic, Casey crossed the finish line with seven-year-old Forest riding right behind him—an unforgettable moment made possible by the caregivers at Children's Hospital Colorado.
