In support of Children's Hospital of Colorado, I have taken on the challenge of training for the Courage Classic in the mountains of Colorado on July 18-19, 2026 in order to raise (hopefully over) $5,000 for Children's Hospital of Colorado. This year I will be doing two separate rides, mileage and elevation gain TBD as I will be once again doing it with my family and lady biker gang! It takes more than one person to make up a team and that's why I'm asking you to donate to my fundraising efforts! Last year I made it into the top 50 again with your help, and would love to do it again to help the children :)
MY WHY
I ride to give hope to Children's Hospital of Colorado patients like Martha, Will, Trevor, Cooper, Koby, Nathan, Flynn, Jared, Delany, and Hazel.
These are all children who were diagnosed with brain or blood cancer and have been remembered and honored through a group I have previously rode the Courage Classic with for the past two years, Wheels of Justice. My goal is to raise money to help support patients and their families through this diagnosis and treatment, as well as further childhood cancer research.
October 5, 2021 was my day that I felt the same heart wrenching words no one wants to hear, you have a brain tumor. My "Ralphie" as I named it, was found incidentally during a workup for dizziness and perceived hearing loss with my ENT. Ralphie was evicted on March 30, 2022 when I underwent my first craniotomy and found out it was an astrocytoma, grade II. Thankfully it was fully resected with wide clear margins, so I was able to defer chemo and radiation at that time. Additionally, I was very fortunate in that surgery went well without any complications. I was able to return to work as an orthopedic PA and resume living my life again; however, I have struggled to return back to working out and cycling due to headaches. Ralphie then returned late 2024 again and I underwent another crani April 11, 2025. I started oral chemo in November 2025 and struggle with daily fatigue and migraines. This ride once again is my mountain to overcome and prove that I can still do hard things in honor of those who no longer can, with my family by my side.
Please read more about these incredibly brave children and help those who are being diagnosed right now. It is heavy enough experiencing this as an adult, and I cannot imaging navigating it as a child. https://www.wheelsofjustice.com/honorees
Envision a world without pediatric cancer. The Courage Classic is an opportunity to support healthier futures for kids who lost their fight too soon. Though we are switching gears this year, we still ride in honor of those we have lost. This year, we are bringing awareness to the other side of pediatric cancer and blood disorders, the survivors. To quote our Wheels page,
"Survivorship is a fairly new concept in the world of pediatric oncology and blood disorder treatment. More pediatric patients are surviving treatments and now we must figure out how to support them moving forward in their lives.
For some, survivorship comes with many anxieties and additional concerns: scans, recurrence, a new cancer that was caused by the chemotherapy and radiation needed to cure the first cancer, infertility, chronic illnesses caused by treatment, developmental disabilities, and so much more.
This is a significant part of survivorship, because beating the physical disease is just the first step. Those who do survive often have a lifetime of side effects from their disease. This is unacceptable."
https://www.wheelsofjustice.com/survivors
Go Wheels!
