We woke this morning to torrential rain replete with thunder and lighting and promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. An hour later, the skies had cleared, the sun was out and we proceeded to bike 76 glorious miles, mainly on beautiful bike paths, to St. Augustine and finally the Atlantic Ocean. God and Mother Nature smiled on us all day—the perfect ending to an amazing cross country pilgrimage.
David and I started the day biking with daughter Bella and mid way through were joined by sons Oliver and Chris and a little further along the path were TOTALLY surprised to be joined by my sister Elise and her husband Kohlie. We were welcomed to St. Augustine by several old friends and a few new ones and 12 miles later dipped our tires into the Atlantic. A dream come true.
This journey could never have happened without the support of so many people. First and foremost, I am forever grateful to husband David for being with me from start to finish, plotting the route and managing all logistics, biking, driving, and doing whatever was needed to make sure that I was able to complete the journey and fulfill my mission of raising awareness for lung cancer. I didn’t think it was possible that a love of 28 years could become deeper in 6 weeks time but I love him more today than I did even on the day we were married and I never could have done this without him. David and I both would still be in Texas trying to fix a broken tire had we not had the amazing support of Adam Spahr, Amelia Durst, and Velofix throughout the journey. They kept us rolling day in and day out. And then there is Ventum Racing who have supported me since my diagnosis and provided the two amazing bikes that took me across the country. A huge shoutout to Noah who has done a phenomenal job managing our social media, to Jessica Stevens for providing the daily mindfulness posts and to Jan for creating the website platform that enabled us to share our journey. And of course to my five children, three siblings, and parents, who provided good humor, emotional support, prayers, and a ton of positive energy from up close and afar throughout this journey. Finally, heartfelt and massive kudos to the amazing friends, family and other supporters who joined our journey both physically, virtually and spiritually and have helped us share our lung cancer messaging. Last but not least, I am forever grateful to my oncologist Dr. Mark Kris and his team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for the work they have done and continue to do to enable lung cancer patients like me to continue to lead fulfilling lives, and to LUNGevity Foundation, whose work to improve outcomes for lung cancer patients through advocacy that drives better diagnostics, treatments and policy reforms has benefited me and so many others. With Infinite Gratitude.
– Isabella