Ride for the Cure

We are very excited to announce the first annual Mid-Michigan Ride For the Cure benefitting Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Register now!

This year’s inaugural event will feature three ride lengths (27, 57, and 97 miles) starting and ending in scenic Ann Arbor. Registered riders will commit to raise at least $500 to benefit the Mid-Michigan Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. The Ride is fully supported with sag wagons, medical and mechanical services and cheerleaders! Plus we offer aid stations throughout the course with great food and fun. All riders are provided easy online fundraising tools as well as a personal donation page on the Komen website to assist with their fundraising efforts. Click here to view the custom designed Ride jersey! 

How the Ride Began - One Survivor's Story 

My name is Tracy Weaver and my story begins in January of 1994 at age 33 with 3 daughters - ages 3, 7, and 8.  

I felt multiple small lumps – I wasn't really concerned but I did make a dr. appt. (FYI - I had just had my annual ob/gyn appt the previous Oct.).  I saw my doctor and he felt the lumps but given my age and the fact that I had, breastfed all 3 kids, never smoked, wasn't overweight and no MATERNAL history of breast cancer, he didn't feel there should be any concern.  However, just to put my mind as ease he sent me in for a mammogram (there was a strong PATERNAL history with my father losing 3 sisters to breast cancer and we have since realized that it is not just maternal history that we need to watch).

So I went for my mammogram, I was very nervous but no one was worried.  That is until they took the picture and saw lots of little "specs of white paint" on my films.  I would later find out that these were microcalcifications and NOT a good sign.  They immediately decided to do an ultrasound - although they were focusing on an area not where I felt the lump?  Weird huh?  Well, the microcalcifications were pointing to a different area of my teeny, tiny less than "A-cup" breast.  After the ultrasound the radiologist said to me “you need to see a surgeon as soon as possible, I don’t like what I see".  

So I met Dr. George Shaub at Riechert /St Joes' health Center.  He was very caring but straight forward.  He immediately told me that I needed a needle biopsy (outpatient surgery) because he was fairly certain that I might have breast cancer - the test would let us know for sure.  I was extremely shaken; I heard his words but couldn't grasp their meaning.  I knew that I had to suck it up and have the test, three days later I underwent the needle biopsy surgery.  

In the meantime, my sister left her own family in South Carolina and came up to be the rock of Gibraltar in ours.  To this day I can never thank her enough for that - she lived with us for 6 weeks and allowed my then husband and I to focus on me.

On Valentine's Day 1994, Dr. Schaub called our house.  I remember knowing that because he was personally calling me that it couldn't be a good thing.  I can still hear his voice saying "It is breast cancer...", those are words that I will never forget.  Apparently the teeny, tiny breast had multiple suspicious lumps in it.  The one they had dissected was cancerous and over 3cm in size, which I later learned was really not a good thing. To be honest, I don't remember much after that.  We all went onto autopilot; family, friends, children, teachers, neighbors - we had an amazing support community.  They were all there for us cooking dinners, cleaning the house, cutting the grass, shuttling the kids – allowing me to focus on my health. 

The next few weeks were spent at St. Joe's - getting second opinions, meeting with plastic surgeons, donating blood for surgery - test after test, consultation after consultation, phone call after phone call.   This was all happening before the age of the Internet and one of my dearest friends (who holds a Masters in Library Science) spent the next two weeks researching and copying every article she could find for us so we could be educated about what was happening.

On, March 3, 1994, at the hands of two of the most capable, caring doctors in the St Joe's health system - Dr. George Schaub - my surgeon, and Dr. Paul Izenberg - my plastic surgeon - I underwent a radical mastectomy and the tram-flap reconstructive surgery.  This was an 8 hour surgery with a long recuperation period due to the associated abdominal surgery.  Five days later, on March 8^th (my husband's birthday) while still recuperating in the hospital – I received the first bit of good news since my diagnosis; the lymph nodes that were removed during my surgery were negative and did not have any trace of cancer.  Yahoo!!Finally something we wanted to hear.

We did soon learn, in my follow up appointments, that because my cancer was multi-focal and I have a slight build that my chest wall did not have a clear margin without cancer cells.  This worried my medical team.  After quite a few visits and opinions we decided that I would undergo chest wall radiation at the U of M hospital under the care of Dr. Lichter.  Again, I had another great set of caregivers and the 6 weeks of treatment flew by; although I was completely and utterly exhausted – I knew in my heart that I was lucky!   Lucky…  Lucky…  Lucky!

Fast forward to the summer of 2009 - our entire family - me, my life partner Todd McNeilly and our four kids Jenny, 25; Kelly, 24; Amy, 20; Griffin, 13 all participate every year in the Detroit Race for The Cure. The goal is to raise money and awareness for Susan G. Komen for the Cure - (and oh yeah, for the kids to beat me running the 5k.....as of yet they haven't!)  

Additionally, Todd & I are avid cyclists who spend the majority of our free time on the bike - both mountain and road cycling.  After completing my third 3-day walk for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Todd and I hatched a great plan.  Why not combine our passion for cycling and our passion for Komen into a really cool cycling event?  I had already raised over $10K myself through the various Races and 3-Day's; if I could raise money for Komen and be on a bike - how fun would that be?!

And so, we approached the Mid-Michigan Affiliate of the Susan G Komen for the Cure and began planning the inaugural Komen Mid-Michigan Ride for the Cure. 

So today, with grown daughters and a teenage son (who I worry about each and every day) it is my hope that I never have to be their "rock of Gibraltar" while they battle breast cancer in their lives.  I never want them to have to tell their children - "Mommy, has breast cancer" "but it will be alright".  I never want them to go through what I went through.  I want to do everything I can to make sure they are luckier than I am!And while they still haven't beat me on the bicycle or in the 5k Race they will be out there peddling in our Michigan Ride for the Cure!

Ride On!

As you may know, breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women in the United States. Every day, nearly 600 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and over 100 women die from the disease. The money raised by this event supports the Mid-Michigan Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and its promise to save lives and end breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality health care for all and energizing science to find the cures. Please join our efforts to help provide hundreds of women, who might not otherwise be able to afford it, the opportunity for annual breast exams, low-cost or no-cost mammograms and diagnostic ultrasound screenings, as well as educational programs to enhance the benefits of early detection.