DANVERS — Cancer survivor Tom DesFosses is finding a charity bike ride may be harder to organize than riding a bike 740 miles around New England, which he did last year to raise money for brain tumor research.
"It may be a party where no one shows up," said DesFosses to selectmen last week as he asked for permission to hold a bike-a-thon early next month.
Danvers selectmen wished DesFosses, a Peabody resident, good luck and Godspeed by giving him permission to hold his inaugural "A Reason to Ride" bicycle trek on Sept. 7 from the Liberty Tree Mall parking lot.
The event benefits Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which is providing DesFosses insurance and first aid support along the way.
The ride kicks off at 8 a.m. and features 10-, 25- and 50-mile routes through Danvers, Beverly, Wenham, Essex and Gloucester, on roads DesFosses often rides.
DesFosses and his wife, Judy, are organizing the event themselves, with the help of friends like Robert Barry of Peabody, who helped DesFosses train for his solo New England Tour benefit ride last year.
This year, Barry is busy handing out pamphlets.
"Tom is a very special person," Barry said in an e-mail, "who, while affected by brain cancer, wants to give back to the hospital and doctors that saved his life."
DesFosses is switching gears from a solo ride to a bike-a-thon in an attempt to create an event that will run year after year and get more people involved. His solo effort raised $15,000 to $20,000 last year.
"I survived this ordeal and it's time to give back. It's what this ride is about, giving back," said the father of two grown sons and the grandfather of four. Until a year ago last April, DesFosses managed the gear plant at General Electric in Lynn. He retired after 41 years.
DesFosses, 66, now receives once-a-year chemotherapy treatments, but at first his neuro-oncologist, Dr. Eric Wong, told him "85 percent of the people who have what I have don't live more than three months," DesFosses said.
DesFosses was stricken while on a motor home trip with his wife through the West in 2003. Judy noticed her husband was having trouble with speech and walking and doing normal things like hitching up the motor home.
"By the time we were in Texas, it was obvious something was wrong," Judy DesFosses said.
To this day, DesFosses does not remember the end of the trip, but he does remember finally coming around at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center four weeks later.
The first round of treatments knocked out the brain cancer, and as he got healthier, the man who was accustomed to riding 100-mile "century rides" slowly got back on the bike.
He had to train for a year and a half for his solo ride last year. After that, he approached the Liberty Tree Mall about holding his bike-a-thon in the mall parking lot, and he has received support from Danvers police with logistics.
DesFosses said he hopes the ride will bring in more money for cancer research than the nine-day solo bike ride, during which DesFosses never got off the bike to walk it up a hill, even when he could barely push the pedals on steep grades.
"I thought it was a great idea," said Judy about her husband's bike-a-thon. "When you can give back, it's what you should do, and research is where they are going to find a cure."
If you ride
What: A Reason to Ride bike-a-thon.
Where: Liberty Tree Mall, 100 Independence Way, Danvers
When: Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008
Kick off: 8 a.m.
Rides starts: 8:30 a.m. (50 miles) 8:45 a.m. (25 miles) and 9 a.m. (10 miles)
Fees: $50 per adult, $100 per family
Major sponsors: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Ski Market, Jungle Screen Printing, The Salem News, Wenham Tea House, North Shore 104.9, Trader Joe's, Pedro's Judo Center.
Proceeds go to Dr. Eric Wong's brain tumor research fund and Dr. Lewis Cantley's general cancer research fund. For more information, go to www.AReasonToRide.com.
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