"During the four month ride, 1500 children, teenagers and adults in the USA with blood cell cancer will receive a blood stem cell transplant from a volunteer donor. That is nearly 1 transplant for every two miles, and there is another patient during that same span, who can't find a matched donor. Support for the NMDP will make more donors available, and advance research needed to make transplants more available and safer for all." Dr. Edmund Waller, Director, Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Now what? It’s a question that keeps coming up. The transcontinental bike ride has been completed for a while. It seems a little wrong to keep up a blog that was designed for one purpose that has now been realized, but it also seems really sad to just let it die. Besides, who knows, maybe it can still play a role in recruiting bone marrow donors. Let’s see what happens.
Sometimes I get the urge to draw something. My niece sparks that in me.
Halloween was coming up!
Lots and lots and lots of thank you cards.
Potstickers! Someone in this family should know how to make potstickers from scratch.
Bunk mate!
Yay pie! Pie for days!
So there I was, sitting in Atlanta. I had a few things I wanted to get done. First of all, relax and spend time with my sister Cindy and her family. Goof around with the niece and nephew. Enjoy not being in the rain. Take advantage of having a kitchen and easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables and running water. Write a whole lot of thank you notes. Snuggle with the cat. Eat pie.
But one can only sit around enjoying the easy life for so long. Though I did find some fun YouTube channels. What’s next? Get a job? Like, a real job? I was hoping for an epiphany while being on the road.
The ride is officially completed! The coast-to-coast portion concluded in Charleston, South Carolina, where I dipped my wheels into the Atlantic Ocean at Folly Beach, appropriately known as the Edge of America. That wasn’t the end of my journey, though, since I still wanted to ride to Atlanta and conclude at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.
Flashback to April and the unruly waves of the Pacific.
As you can see in the above video, I received an extremely warm welcome at Emory! My sister Cindy had done a lot to spread the word of my arrival. I was humbled to be greeted by the very people I admire, the doctors, nurses, and researchers who work tirelessly at providing the best care for patients in need. As they crowded around me and thanked me for helping raise awareness for bone marrow donation, it was only too obvious to me that they are the ones truly deserving of thanks. I am honored to be able to take part and make a contribution, however small it may be, to their life saving work.
The waves on the Atlantic side were much more cooperative.
Somehow, they allowed me to take Lutz up to the bone marrow transplant unit in the hospital! I was introduced to patients and their families, and it was another humbling experience to be included in their battles to regain their health. While I am glad to have had this opportunity to raise awareness for Be the Match and the need for bone marrow donors, I am also constantly thinking about how I could have done things differently, how I could have done just a little bit more to help the cause… well, I guess that just means I’m not done yet! My bike ride may be completed, but the mission, of course, is not. Possibly, given what I’ve learned from the first attempt, I should plan another ride… what do you think?
Oops, should I have provided a spoiler alert at the beginning? Sorry. But yes, in case you haven’t guessed already, the ride is completed safely! However, not everything went to plan. Much of the route was altered along the way. I guess I’ll flashback to how I came to be in Cookeville, Tennesse, which was where I left off the last entry, and retrace my steps back to Atlanta.
A few cyclists on the TransAm. Curiously, no Americans.
Many apologies for not writing more frequently, but such is life on the Soggy Edge.
This post will have to be a bit different from the others. I’m not going to take the time to write about everything that’s happened, so I’ll have to just pull a few select tales. Besides, the chronological travel log style is not really the kind of writing I had hoped for myself, so this will be a break from that.
Also, the heat and humidity and general rugged lifestyle is destroying my electronics. This computer is driving me nuts. I never know where my cursor is and it unexpectedly jumps to random places. And the struggle for decent wifi continues. There will be no uploading of photos, because it drives me to tears. (Update – I’ve now come back and added photos.)
"During the four month ride, 1500 children, teenagers and adults in the USA with blood cell cancer will receive a blood stem cell transplant from a volunteer donor. That is nearly 1 transplant for every two miles, and there is another patient during that same span, who can't find a matched donor. Support for the NMDP will make more donors available, and advance research needed to make transplants more available and safer for all." Dr. Edmund Waller, Director, Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
"During the four month ride, 1500 children, teenagers and adults in the USA with blood cell cancer will receive a blood stem cell transplant from a volunteer donor. That is nearly 1 transplant for every two miles, and there is another patient during that same span, who can't find a matched donor. Support for the NMDP will make more donors available, and advance research needed to make transplants more available and safer for all." Dr. Edmund Waller, Director, Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
"During the four month ride, 1500 children, teenagers and adults in the USA with blood cell cancer will receive a blood stem cell transplant from a volunteer donor. That is nearly 1 transplant for every two miles, and there is another patient during that same span, who can't find a matched donor. Support for the NMDP will make more donors available, and advance research needed to make transplants more available and safer for all." Dr. Edmund Waller, Director, Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
"During the four month ride, 1500 children, teenagers and adults in the USA with blood cell cancer will receive a blood stem cell transplant from a volunteer donor. That is nearly 1 transplant for every two miles, and there is another patient during that same span, who can't find a matched donor. Support for the NMDP will make more donors available, and advance research needed to make transplants more available and safer for all." Dr. Edmund Waller, Director, Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
"During the four month ride, 1500 children, teenagers and adults in the USA with blood cell cancer will receive a blood stem cell transplant from a volunteer donor. That is nearly 1 transplant for every two miles, and there is another patient during that same span, who can't find a matched donor. Support for the NMDP will make more donors available, and advance research needed to make transplants more available and safer for all." Dr. Edmund Waller, Director, Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Barbells Bikes Biytes and Bones 