My name is Shilen Patel. I was born August 8, 1990 in Hamburg, Germany. I have since moved 10 times and attended 12 schools. My current hometown is the Houston suburb of Cypress, Texas. I am an undergraduate student at UT in Austin in the Deans' Scholars Honors Program studying Biochemistry and Mathematics and hope to go to Medical School after my time here, where I want to study to become a heart surgeon.

Though I do not consider myself remarkable by the standards of humanity, I am ambitious, amicable, and outgoing, a tri-force of sorts that I feel will help me achieve great things. Though I am a nerd in nearly every sense of the word, ranging from my affection for math to my grades, I have also managed to stay socially and physically active, amassing friends and, in January 2008, earning my black belt in ITF Tae Kwon Do.

The struggles endured when battling cancer in many ways mimic a ride to Alaska. The emotional bonds formed on a ride and the physical exhaustion felt while riding through the mountains are mere transformations of the bonds formed and strengthened when one is assaulted by cancer and the physical pain endured while undergoing treatment. However, this pain also leads to some of the most amazing feats of human survival, with thousands beating the odds and coming back from the brink of death to defeat a monster known globally only as cancer.

To willingly endure a journey of so many miles in the efforts to raise awareness of cancer and to raise money for cancer research is a tale of epic proportions: a tale of a dedicated few coming together in order to try and rid the world of a disease that afflicts millions annually. I hope that by riding with Texas 4000 I will be able to help find the cure for cancer by reaching out to individuals as well as by furthering research.

My grandfather, otherwise healthy until this point, was afflicted with lung cancer from 70 odd years of smoking in 1997. He died 2 weeks before his 90th birthday in 2000. I have few, fleeting memories of my grandfather, having met him on only a few occasions when I visited India as a small child. I have no lasting memories of substance. I blame his lung cancer for this hole in my being, for the lack of paternal grandfather in my life. My father, who has been smoking since he was 13, does not realize that the same disease that took his father may one day take him as well. I ride for my grandfather's past and my father's future.