Once again this year I am participating in the Ride for Roswell on the Let's Get Lizzycle Team, founded in honor of my dear friend Liz Marshall Metcalfe. Liz, like me, is a breast cancer survivor. So I ride for Liz and I ride for myself and I ride for the love of my life, my late wife, Pete Dempesy-Sims.

I remember standing with Pete, looking over the lobby of Roswell and listening to someone ring the bell of survival. I would take her hand and say--"I can't wait until you ring it."

She didn't get to ring it. About 9 months after diagnosis, Pete died of lung cancer (November 9, 2017).

For several years I couldn't ride in the RFR, I could barely hold it together when I went to Roswell for my check-ups and heard that bell rung. But holding onto those feelings isn't healthy, nor is is what Pete would want. So last year, I "rode" again. And this year I will ride again. For Liz, for Pete, for me, for my dad, my mom, my aunt , my cousin, my grandmother, some of whom were/are survivors, some who were not.

I ride because cancer kills people.

I ride because we are so damn blessed to have Roswell and other comprehensive cancer centers like it. At Roswell incredible treatments are offered, ground-breaking research is happening and most of the people who walk through those doors at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center walk out as survivors. Some don't. I ride for both because one day everyone will be a survivor.

Cancer doesn’t care. It doesn’t care about age. It doesn’t care about your family or friends. It doesn’t care about what it takes from us — or who it leaves behind. 

But I care. I care about making a difference in the future of cancer research and bringing an end to this devastating disease. That’s why I am participating in the  Ride for Roswell this summer! 

Please help me raise critically needed funds to support the thousands of patients who turn to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center for hope each year. Your donation provides funding that researchers need in order to investigate new treatment options that could save lives in our community and around the world. For every dollar donated, Roswell Park can leverage an additional $13 in new grant funding!

Please consider making a donation today to help find cures. Together, we can make a difference.