About Me

Profile

About:

I am a second year aerospace engineering major at UT. I play trumpet in the Longhorn Band, is an amazing experience. Marching in Darrell K. Royal Stadium in front of 100,000 people is so exhilarating!. I am still adjusting to the schedule differences in college, and so I am watching a little more TV than I should (hopefully to be replaced by more scholarly efforts soon). To sum it up, I am living in Austin and loving life!

I am from a small town called Shiner, Texas about an hour and a half south of Austin. Our one and only claim to fame is the Shiner Brewery where all of the Shiner beer in the world is produced. It’s certainly different growing up in a town of 2000 people. One could say that there is nothing to do, and that person would be completely right. We have one grocery store, one fast food place (not even a McDonald’s), and one stop light. It clearly has its quirks, but I love my little hometown and would not change a thing about it.

Why I Ride

Being a part of Texas 4000 means the world to me. Hearing the stories my sister Shelley told when she did the ride in 2007 were both incredible and inspiring. From the second she left for the ride that June, I knew that it would be my turn to ride someday. Now that time has come. I look forward to the experience that I will have and the encounters with people I will meet along the way whose cancer stories will inspire me to push forward in the fight against cancer.

When I was ten years old my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. At that time I did not know what this truly meant, but I knew that she would get through it. Her strength never wavered and after 8 months of chemotherapy, 6 weeks of radiation, and a bilateral mastectomy, she conquered cancer. It was only after she had gotten over the disease, though, did I really see the true impact of cancer on our society. I learned that there are millions of men and women just like my mother who are cancer survivors, but I also learned that there are still over 150 people in the U.S. alone diagnosed with cancer every hour. Sadly, I can say that I know many who have lost their fight with cancer, including my Uncle Bob, who passed away five years ago from lung cancer. I ride in solidarity with the millions of survivors and the many who are still in the fight–sending them a message courage and hope to persevere through such a horrible disease. I ride for the people who have lost their bout with cancer. I ride so that I can do my part to insure that one day not one person will lose that fight ever again.

I ride for my mom.
I ride to give hope and courage to those battling cancer now.
I ride in memory of all of those who have died from this terrible disease.