Ride for Cancer

This is an open letter from a family friend

Dear Friends,

As the summer cools down, and my job here in Washington concludes, I am preparing to make my way back to Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. I will be returning to BYU to briefly prepare myself to study overseas in Damascus, Syria. On my way back to Utah, I won't be traveling by traditional means – cars, planes, trains – but on my 14-speed road bike!

From September 1st through September 15th David Clark and I will be cycling for Brett Fafard. Brett Fafard, a 22 year old college student, was diagnosed with advanced stage III testicular cancer on June 8th of this year. Similar to millions of other Americans that fall into this age group of 19-29 years, Brett has no way of getting medical insurance: he was denied public health care because he made too much during the year, yet not nearly enough, with his $10 an hour salary, to afford expensive private insurance. Currently, Brett has undergone his first round of chemotherapy and has had two surgeries to combat the cancer that has invaded his abdomen, chest, liver, lungs and neck. He will be going through several more rounds of chemotherapy and possibly more surgery or radiation therapy. We hope that our ride will aid him in getting necessary treatment.

We will leave from Renton, Washington and travel approximately 60 to 100 miles a day in order to finish the trip in two weeks; the entire trip is about 950 miles. Our goal is to raise $10,000.

Will you help us? Along the way, we have planned out the towns where we will sleep and also where we will replenish our supplies. We have covered all of our personal expenses for the trip so 100% of your gift goes toward Brett's care. Feel free to forward this email to your friends, in fact, please send it to five of your friends. If you are interested in helping, please send me a short reply. I can be reached online at kweitze@gmail.com or by phone at 209-566-5283. You can also check us out on the web at http://ontheroadtoacure.webs.com/.

We will be sending out more information regarding where and how to donate, and how you can follow along with us during the trip, in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks and God Bless,


Keith Weitze