Iowa Friends!

Our next stop is in Iowa City where we are going to have a fundraiser with a local hero, Brandon. Please pass the word on to all of your Iowa friends:

Monday, August 21
12:00-2:00
Outback Steakhouse
945 25th Avenue
Coralville, Iowa


Brandon has had an amazing journey with cancer. Here is the bio that his parents sent us:

Brandon had a virus in March 2005, which cased him to go into Acute Liver Failure. The doctors stated that Brandon would need a liver transplant. Brandon was then transported by air to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois where he received a live donor liver transplant from his Uncle Mike from Texas, (his mother’s brother). After that was done and everything was going smoothly with his recovery, his platelet counts began to drop dangerously low in July, and in October Brandon was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia, and would soon be in need of a bone marrow transplant. In November, Brandon was hospitalized for a week while they tried to use an ATG (ATGAM) treatment, but it had no effect on the disease. The doctors believe the same, unknown virus that killed Brandon's liver also attacked his bone marrow. On February 9, 2006 Brandon was admitted to Iowa City Children's hospital where he began chemotherapy to rid his body of the old bone marrow and prep for the new. Brandon's brother Ryan (13) and his sister Kayla (9) both tested as perfect matches for Brandon, and it was decided that Ryan was the one. On February 14, 2006 (Valentines Day) Brandon received his new Bone Marrow from his big brother. Today Brandon’s counts are normal, and his DNA last came back at 97% Donor cells. Thank you to God and medical research for making this possible, and helping us keep our little boy :)

~ Austin and Tom

Hope

We visited Hope Children's Hospital this morning and met some amazing kids and doctors who are fighting cancer together. In the past few days, the staff had been preparing the kids for our visit. Some of them made us drawings, and one kid even set aside a granola bar when he heard about us. He told the nurse that he wanted to save it for "the bikers" because we would need the energy :)

Ryan (10) was one of the kids we met. His mom told us about his journey with cancer, and Ryan asked us lots of questions about our bikes and told us about how much he loved baseball:


Next stop was the Kellogg Cancer Center for a luncheon with the staff and some special families who have been touched by neuroblastoma. The Chiou family lost their son Tyler to in 2005, and the Zavaleta family whose son Ryan is (5) and has been in remission for the past three years - way to go Ryan!!

The Zavaleta kids had been busy all week collecting coins from their neighbors, and they ended up collecting over $135 in change - mostly pennies!! We celebrated by dawning fresh hot pink whale tattoos with the whole gang:



~ Austin

Number One!

Conner (3) is our Chicago kid. He really knows how to motivate a team of exhausted cyclists! He was diagnosed with a rare form of high risk leukemia last March, and he has been undergoing heavy doses of chemo, blood & platelet transfusions, lumbar punctures, and bone aspirations.

Conner's treatment is tough, but he is tougher. His mom, Angie, said that he has remained a playful kid through it all . . . apparently he chases his nurses with plastic animals & bugs. We're going to the hospital tomorrow to see Conner. I wonder if we'll be chased by plastic creatures?!

Rally on Conner - we'll see you in the morning!

~ Austin

Chicago!!

We rode past 139 miles of corn and soy beans today. We're pretty zonked out. The ride was almonst 10 hours long, and I feel like I have a bicycle seat permanently attached to my rear end. whew . . .

In every direction we saw massive agricultural farms. In fact a sign declared our location as, "The Belt of the Corn Buckle."



We finished at the Schlitz family home in Chicago. Conner (3) is being treated for leukemia at Advocate Hope Children's Hospital, where we will visit Thursday morning. He was just admitted to the hospital this morning for a fever, so we are hoping that our visit will give him a little extra energy :)

~ Austin

It's a sign

Our positioning is not necessarily indicative of our own attitudes, but we thought that it would give all of you something to ponder . . . which side would you stand under?

. . . actually, I take that back about not necessarily being indicative of our own attitudes. Tom was definately a big minus sign today.

. . . wait, wait, I take that back too. I think Tom was just really confused and thought it was opposite day thus making us both plus signs! How 'bout that? It's the only I can figure because we ain't no double negatives.

~ Austin

Indiana and the Giesels

We crossed another state line, leaving Ohio and entering Indiana. With only a few missed turns, we made it to Carmel, right outside of Indianapolis, where they held the Race to Replace (Austin and I did not participate). Having arrived, we met the Giesels, who offered us a place to stay and a big dinner to refuel.

Today we ride in honor of Will Giesel, the son of our hosts. Will passed away in January of 1999 after fighting leukemia for two years. We never got to meet Will, but his mother has told us a little bit about him. He would have been 10 this year. His slogan was "Will Power Can Beat Leukemia." And though he was quieter than his younger brother, he made some powerful remarks. I wish I could have met him.

~ Tom