The ride dedication today was for a friend of Phil, who passed away before his time. Sergio was diagnosed with leukemia while in middle school and passed away shortly after.
Before today, for myself at least, this group and this trip felt like a bike group with a cancer focus. However today I realized that we are truly a cancer group with a bike focus. After our quick ride of only 23 miles with slight rain into Rochester NY about half of our group had the opportunity to visit a Hope Lodge. These special places are a sector of the American Cancer Society’s outreach to allow those with financial need to have a place to stay during their cancer treatment for free.
One of the harsh realities of living with cancer, besides the obvious physical and mental strain, is the financial burden it places on its victims. The Hope Lodge today allowed the group to better understand why there is a need for these types of locations, and we learned that without them, many of these patients would otherwise sleep in their cars in hospital parking lots. While other organizations like Ronald McDonald House focus on the parents of children affected by cancer, Hope Lodges are geared toward adult patients and even allow them to have a caretaker with them during their stay. I was impressed with the nice amenities that the Lodge offered to its guests. The rooms looked similar to hotels and there were common areas with books and games.
After the tour the team was “surprised” (the surprised was accidentally spoiled for us by some well meaning hosts) with a police escort to meet the mayor of Rochester, Lovely Warren. Due to our other recent brush with fame meeting mayor De Blasio, at this point I was starting to feel famous myself. With five squad cars to block traffic for us we biked as a team to town hall. When we arrived, journalists and security guards led us to a private press conference where the mayor herself presented us with a proclamation slip, naming May 26, 2017 Illini 4000 day!
Although this one day proclamation will only be valid for this day on this year, it was still amazing to me that the team was able to get this type of press and access to officials. I4k continues to surprise me.
With two different city mayors, a day named after us, a police escort, and overwhelming community support from the towns we have visited in only the first week, the team agreed that no other summer in our lives will be able to top this one.
Only thing missing now is a red carpet.
MB