About Me

Profile

About:

My name is Ethan Perez and I am a second year business student at THE University of Texas (school pride, right?). I grew up in Harlingen, Texas, about 45 miles west of South Padre Island and 20 minutes north of the border. It's a small town, but I figured out pretty quickly that my destiny lies in a big city. Take a mental picture of a nerd, another mental picture of a jock, combine them, and you have me. You can find me watching re-re-re-re-runs of SportsCenter, playing basketball, practicing my sarcasm, hanging out with friends, trying to run a mile without dying, or quite conversely, with my face plastered to my laptop screen. I greatly enjoyed my first year in Austin, and I look forward to the next 3 (or 4, 5, 6...however long it takes) years.

It wouldn't be a proper bio without a mention of my family; they made me who I am today, and I certainly wouldn't be in the great position that I am now without them. My brother, Eli, is essentially a carbon copy of myself, only 4 years older. I couldn't imagine being an only child; Eli made my childhood memorable, even if it meant spending lots and lots of time in timeout. My parents, Joe and Sylvia, are the best parents that I could ever ask for. They have guided my way with constant push and pull into the life I now lead as my own, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Why I Ride

I ride for everyone that was as ignorant and blessed as I was. You'll find many of my teammates that have been molded and shaped by this terrible disease, but I'm not one of them. Until recently, my interactions with cancer had been limited to hearing about Lance Armstrong or other celebrities who had battled cancer.

That all changed recently, when my great aunt was diagnosed with her third different type of cancer, and one of my high school friends was diagnosed with a disease that I thought wasn't supposed to affect people my age. Both of these experiences drastically changed my perception of cancer; it was no longer off in the distance, but rather something that was affecting the lives of people I cared about.

I ride for the day when every single person can afford to be as ignorant as I was, because the disease will no longer exist. I ride for the day when loved ones won't have to worry about living without a family member because of cancer. There have been a lot of man-hours and resources allocated to cancer research thus-far, and I only intend to continue to push that effort, with all that I can, and I hope you'll be a catalyst, alongside and through me.