Be The Match Feature Story - The Chair of Be The Match Foundation’s Atlanta Leadership Council, Dr. Amelia Langston, joined one of her transplant recipient patients, Bob, at the end of his fundraising bike trip down the East Coast. Bob is not only a transplant survivor, but also one of our Atlanta Be The One Run Planning Committee Members helping plan and organize that event to make it a success and raise funds to help other marrow and cord blood transplant patients.
On June 30, 2011, Bob, his daughter and his best friend finished a 1,700 bike ride from Boston to Key West, Florida. Check out their website: http://ww.lifebloodride.org. Their coastal ride was undertaken to raise financial support for cancer research and awareness around the need for bone marrow donors. However, there was an equally important message these three were spreading to cancer patients and their families and friends: there is life after cancer. Bob is living proof.
Dr. Amelia Langston and three of Bob’s bone marrow transplant nurses joined the trio for a portion of their biking endeavor. After Bob asked Dr. Langston whether he would be healthy and strong enough to take this ride, she not only gave him the green light to do the ride, but asked to join him. The support from Dr. Langston and the transplant nurses was incredibly touching to Bob and his riding mates.
Bob was diagnosed in February 2009 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and received chemotherapy and a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplant in October 2009. Bob is now cancer free and in better physical shape now than he was before his diagnosis. He has a 1,890 bike adventure to prove it. There truly is life after cancer!
Want to take on your own physical challenge to raise funds for Be The Match Foundation? Simply dream up your event and then create a LifeJourneys page to tell your story and raise funds!
Don’t want to create your own event, but still want to help? Sign-up to walk, run, or volunteer at one of our Be The One Run events near you.