BAWLS Guarana is proudly sponsoring three old men (their words, not ours) cycling coast to coast to raise research funds and awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).
On May 1, 2023, the three men set out on a 3,000-mile cycling journey across the United States. They dipped their rear tires into the Pacific Ocean in San Diego, CA and nearly seven weeks later, dip their front tires into the Atlantic Ocean in St. Augustine, FL. The trip will take about 40 days of riding through the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
The three riders - Greg Sliger, Todd Downey and Vince Hopkins - hope to raise $100,000 for LLS. In fact, through corporate sponsors like BAWLS Guarana and individual donations, they have already surpassed their fundraising goal!
Here is an excerpt from a recent Facebook post on their motivation for this challenge:
Cancer is personal to the riders. The team has watched family and friends, children and adults struggle with cancer and experienced both survival and losses along the way. One of the riders, Vince Hopkins has lived with Non-Hodgkin’s Follicular Lymphoma since 2005. For the last eight years, he's taken a daily pill called Zydelig which has kept his incurable disease in check. Prior to Zydelig, Vince relapsed four times and underwent numerous therapies including chemotherapy and radiation.
“We realize riding 3,000 miles on a bike is going to hurt – but cancer hurts more,” said Vince Hopkins, rider and survivor. “Two months on a bike will be nothing compared to months of chemo treatments or enduring a stem cell transplant. As a survivor, I know firsthand how important LLS is in the fight and we want to use the ride as a platform to help and support people fighting cancer. Zydelig has been my miracle drug and we hope our efforts will lead to better treatments and cures for other individuals. Everyone fighting cancer should have their own miracle drug.”
All contributions will go directly to LLS for cancer research and patient support. The riders are paying 100% for their trip expenses. You can donate here https://pages.lls.org/tnt/soh/yourway23/unitedforthecure2023.
You can follow their journey on Facebook or Instagram
