by Ciera Choate
One in every eight women are affected by breast cancer in their lives, as symbolized here by the one woman in the group dressed in white. This women are with Charlotte Radiology, and were at the KickStandsDOWN event last week. Ciera Choate/SCW Photo
After 40 days and almost 10,000 miles on her motorcycle, Tamela Rich made it back home to south Charlotte from a trip around the U.S. to raise money for breast cancer research.
Rich began her journey with a goal of raising $2,500 while talking to women about their experiences with breast cancer. One in every eight women are affected by the disease.
Rich plans to use those stories for a breast cancer book she hopes to have finished by October, just in time for breast cancer awareness month. The self-published book, called “Live Full Throttle: What You Can Learn About Women Who Have Faced Cancer,” will focus on different themes Rich saw throughout her trip, such as intuition.
While on her journey, Rich met a woman whose doctor only diagnosed one breast with cancer, but she still wanted a double mastectomy because she knew deep down that she had cancer in both breasts. After a battle with her insurance company, the woman got her way.
After the surgery her doctor saw she had more cancer in the breast that wasn’t diagnosed than the other.
“I guess what you can take away from her story is that if you have a conviction about your body, go with it,” Rich said.
For the second year in a row Rich rode with a group called Women Who Ride in the Conga for the Cause. Their trip took them to a rally in Shell, Wyo., a small town with close to 50 people living in it. Over the past year the town lost three people to breast cancer, so when it came to helping the cause everyone pitched in.
Some women participate in the whole ride, while others just ride for a short time. But they all have one thing in common — they decorate their bikes in order to raise awareness about breast cancer. While she saw many interesting things on the bikes of others, like pink boas on the handlebars, bikes painted pink and even full pink coverlets, Rich only had one pink bra strapped to the front of her bike, just like she had for her inaugural ride last year.
Riding motorcycles is more than a way to raise awareness for some women. One woman Rich met while on the road said riding her motorcycle saved her life.
Diagnosed five years ago, the woman thought she had gotten rid of her cancer before it came back in her lungs. She started to undergo treatment but nothing was working. After giving it some thought she decided to take a break from the treatments and enjoy her summer with her family and ride her bike.
After that summer she came back to the doctor to find she was cancer free. As Rich’s doctor said, “medical science really has no quantifying way of describing the healing effects of joy.”
Rich surpassed her goal and raised about $3,000 that she will give to the DRUMSTRONG foundation to distribute between Carolina Breast Friends and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which is the official beneficiary for Women Who Ride. Carolina Breast Friends held the KickStandsDOWN celebration last week to mark Rich’s return home.
While Rich does plan on doing something next year, she is not sure just what yet. To find out more about Rich’s road trip and keep track of her plans, visit her blog at www.roadtrip.tamelarich.com.
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