Thursday, February 3, 2011

Ian Leahy



I was born and raised in Philadelphia and grew up playing sports. Baseball and snowboarding were and still are strong passions of mine. One of the reasons I decided to get into Physical Therapy was to help athletes like myself get back onto the playing field, no matter what their interest may be. I always looked at sports as a release from any stressful situation and I also am a junkie for good competition.

On October 14th I began one of the toughest competitions I will ever be a part of. I began chemotherapy for a rare and aggressive form of testicular cancer that I was diagnosed with just 3 weeks earlier. I was left with no other option than to put aside what I was doing and face this thing head on. I had the support of my family and my amazing wife which made the whole ordeal more bearable.

I endured 3 cycles (9 weeks) of treatment and during that time, every day was harder than the last and there were times when I just wanted to call it quits. It took what little strength I had to make it through treatment after treatment. After the 9 weeks I was told that the treatments had worked and I was cancer free. Looking back, it truly has yet to hit me that I had cancer, so when I was told I was cancer free, my reaction was not as excited as one would expect.

In the end, I look at it this way. One day I will look back and it will finally hit me that I fought a battle that many people don’t have the opportunity to win. I was one of the lucky ones that had the support and the team in place to make sure that I could return to do what I love to do. With that said, I now not only look at life with a new outlook, I now have a purpose. That purpose is to do what it takes to make sure that people who are in the situation I was in have the same support I had. Therefore I now consider myself a Rider Against Cancer.


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

AZ Awareness


This last weekend some of us headed down to AZ where you can still ride on the water. Yes it's "Summer in October" down there in the Valley of the Sun. We took some of Sam's family to the lake two days and had a blast, but more importantly had an opportunity to discuss some cancer prevention with the young-ins. Here are some pictures from the ride.
Ryder getting some wake boarding experience
Parley Brown riding against cancer

Ammon, Ryder and Boston enjoying some shad from those UV rays
Part of the crew
Who said you can't body surf in AZ

Remember sunscreen everyday weather you plan on being in the sun or not is a great idea and way to save your skin.

Ride with a cause, Ride Against Cancer

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Promised Pics

Pics from our rail session on Monday
Sam Woods going 180 to tail press.

Bret Nowell switch board slide
Landon Fielding back liping it
nose pressing the heck out of the RidersAgainstCancer Rail
Sheer Beauty
We'd love to have others come ride with us. Ride with a cause.

The RAC Team

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Rail Sesh

Had a awesome rail session out at Utah Lake yesterday with Landon Fielding, Bret Nowell, and Dallas Knox The Great. MVS (Most Valuable Shredder) goes to Dallas Knox on the day for the improvement of going from never hitting a rail to board slide nose pressing the heck out of it. Pics will be coming soon and i'm sure a little video action. We really would like to get some of our blog readers and twitter followers out there riding with us. We'll try to give a days advance notice on these activities. Ride With A Cause, Ride Against Cancer!!!

The RAC team

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Last Chance to Podium





Saturday before last WakeUtah had their final competition of the summer series. Riders Against Cancer was out in full force bringing awareness of ways to help to all those in attendance. All of our Riders did very well in the competition and it was a good time had by all.
This little girl wanted a wrist band so bad when she found out it would help people who were sick.

Colby Shelton placed 2nd in the outlaw division, shredding hard against cancer!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Cancer

Why is it that cancer is now in all age groups more then it has ever been? It use to be that when you heard the word CANCER you thought of grandmas and grandpas, now in 2010 you hear the word cancer and it can be a 1yr old, 16 yr old, 28 yr old and in the 30,40,50,60 and so on. What is so different now a day then 30 to 40 yrs ago. Please leave a comment on here of why you think it has changed so much and is now in all generations more then it ever has been before.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

We need to find people who need help

We would like to find people that we can help that are struggling with cancer. If you or someone you know has cancer and needs help please let us know. We want to be able to help in all areas. We will be having events coming up in July and August that we want to sponsor those that are struggling. We have a purpose to what we do and while we have fun doing it, we do it for the cause. Thanks for all the support and remember to vote for us to win $100,000. Go to www.ridersagainstcancer.org to click the link to vote.