100 miles for my mother

Everybody rode for somebody but the route ended up being a trip through some of the more significant places in her life.

I rode for my mother today, supporting the Deep South Cancer Foundation and UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her name was on a blackboard with hundreds of others. Everybody rode for somebody.

We started near Southern Research Institute, where she worked as a cancer researcher in the 1950s. She had told me she worked there, but not until long after she was gone did I learn she was a senior researcher, a co-author of papers on chemotherapy with renowned scientists (and she wasn’t a Ph.D.), and spoke at the 1958 dedication of a lab. Her generation didn’t talk about their accomplishments.

We rode past Camp Winnataska, where she took a train to work as a camp counselor. We came through Woodlawn, where she grew up, and past Woodlawn Methodist, where her grandfather was the minister. As I think about it, I couldn’t have mapped a more appropriate memorial ride.

The ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/1469605049

How you can help: https://impact.deepsouthcancer.org/fundraiser/1656378