Riders Against Cancer is an organization that is here to help those fighting the battle of cancer. As the founder and president of RAC, I have had a lot of people ask me “why are you doing this”..so now I will tell you.
The reason why I am doing this is because of my own struggle with cancer. On June 1st 2007, I was told that I had Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Cancer. I remember thinking to myself “what is Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma?” as the doctor proceeded to explain how serious it was. I could not believe it. I remembered getting off the phone and telling my wife what he had said to me and what I would be going through over the next 7-8 months. I could not believe that at 24 I had cancer, and that I could only have 3-4 more years to live. A month before, I had gone to the doctor with a lump on the side of my right leg close to my groin. They sent me to a specialist to see what he thought it was. I was told that it most likely was a hernia and not to worry too much about it.. to just schedule a time to get it taken out. On May 26th or 27th, I can’t remember for sure which date, I went in for surgery and found it was a swollen lymph node. After the biopsy, I got the devastating call from the doctor.
Now, to tell you why I feel I can relate to the people Riders Against Cancer will be helping financially, is because I had lost my health insurance on May 31st of 2007 (the day before being diagnosed on June 1st 2007)! So, the day after my insurance ended I was told that I needed to do chemo and radiation treatments. I did not have insurance to cover the treatments so I was told that I will have to pay put of pocket for them. Doing research, I found that I would be paying in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I did not know what to do. I was faced with the thoughts of “do I do treatments at all”, “if I do treatments I would have to claim bankruptcy”, “what’s the point they told me I had 3-4 years to live”. I really did not know what to do. I even told my wife that she should divorce me because all I would bring her and my 2 month old son is debt and sadness. I have had the thoughts that all cancer patients have and experienced the doubt of making it financially. There are too many people nationwide that cannot afford treatments and choose to not get treatments, letting the cancer take over.
I have founded this organization to not only help financially.. but to also let patients (and their families) know that there are others that have gone through what they are going through. I love riding motorcycles, snowmobiles, ATVs, snowboarding and all other extreme activities. This is where the name Riders Against Cancer came from. As a group of riders we will do rides, benefit dinners, raffles and other events to raise money to help those financially with their treatments. The board of directors will review applicants and their situations to see who it is that RAC can help. We will find sponsors to help us with our goal in providing help for our applicants. My goal for this organization is to let people know they can do the same things they loved to do before they where told they had cancer, and to not just focus on the money side of cancer.. to focus on the treatments and family.
I noticed that as I went through treatments, I started to use cancer as an excuse or a crutch. I hated that. Deciding I wanted to be the same person I was before cancer, I no longer let it get me down. I did this not only for me, but for those around me. I want to do the things I love to do and I will not let cancer get in my way. This is why Riders Against Cancer is here.
Written by: Brent Tracy
