About Me

Profile

About: Hi everyone!
My name is Brittan McCarthy. I am a senior Biomedical Engineering/PreMed student at UT Austin. I grew up overseas first in Alice Springs, Australia and later moved to Harrogate, England. I finally decided it was time to come home to Texas and head to Austin to become a Longhorn.

On campus I am a member of Delta Gamma. I also work in the office of Engineering at UT. Some fun facts about me: I love the outdoors except this one time me and my friend went camping at Big Bend and it took us 6hrs to put up a tent (let's say biking to Alaska is going to be a bit of a learning experience), every now and then I crack out into a British accent and confuse people I am around, and I am a big Justin Bieber fan so I plan to get a speaker for my bike to reeducate my other riders on their music taste.

I am so excited to be a part of Texas 4000 and start taking steps to fighting cancer. Thanks for joining me on this adventure!

Why I Ride

At just 18 months old I moved to Alice Springs, Australia and then 6 years later moved again to Northern England. This allowed me to have a great cultural upbringing and I am thankful for that opportunity every day. However, it also meant that I was unable to visit my extended family except once a year at most. Over the time I was overseas unfortunately my uncle Allen was diagnosed with thymus cancer. This is a rare form of cancer and very deadly, and he was not given long to live. However my uncle was a fighter, he always had such a positive disposition in life. He fought for seven years, which was much longer than most for his stage of cancer. Over that time I was only able to see him a few times. I finally was able to move back to the States for university and a few months later he passed. I ride for my uncle whom was taken from us so young. I ride in his memory for all the moments we missed getting to know each other.

I also ride for my aunt JoAnne who shortly after my uncle passed was diagnosed with cancer too. I was able to have more time with my aunt. In the year that I was back here I was able to visit her numerous times in my hometown Dallas. However, as time progressed we were told she was in late stage cancer and there were not very many options left. I was able to continue visiting her throughout her treatment but none of the proposed treatments held any improvement. I ride for her husband also and those close to her that were also impacted by the loss. She was a bright light in this world and will be missed immensely.

I ride for the 13 million people who are diagnosed with cancer every year and further than that I ride for the ones that they touched throughout their lives. I ride for the nurses and doctors that play such an important role in treatment and recovery. I ride for the researchers trying all methods to find cures for this horrible disease. Cancer is an angry disease that only takes from people, it does not care who you are.

Finally, I ride for myself. I feel that the journey to Alaska will be a growing process for me. I will use the experience to feel more in touch with those I have lost. I will struggle through any pain I face or any problems because I know that behind the reason I ride, are the millions of people affected directly or indirectly by cancer. I want to do whatever I can to help fight this disease because already it has impacted me immeasurably.