Profile

About: Hi there! My name is Noura and I am a junior Human Development and Family Sciences major from Houston, Texas. I am currently studying to become a future general dentist and have always loved learning about family and interpersonal relationships. As an ex-studio art major, I find joy in using oil pastel to create landscape paintings. I am insanely grateful for every opportunity UT has thrown my way, as every friendship, organization, professor, and class has contributed to my personal growth and has meant the entire world to me. When I am not hibernating at the PCL or the Ruckus 2.0 study rooms, I am either grocery shopping at Trader Joes, watching Love Island UK with my three roommates, or eating all the trail mix possible at the Zeta house.

Thank you in advance for getting to know me and believing in the mission of Texas 4000. I am more grateful for your support than you will ever know.

Why I Ride

I ride for my grandfather, Abdulrazagh Moayeri (Babai for short). My Babai was a victim of prostate cancer for many years prior to passing on June 4, 2011. On that day at 11 years old, I had yet to realize that I had lost one of the most important people in my life to one of the most atrocious diseases in the world. I constantly questioned how such an incredible man could be victimized by prostate cancer. To this day, my grandfather was the most hardworking person I have ever had the pleasure of loving.

Babai’s strength was not solely based on his fight against prostate cancer. Babai refused to let the disease define his story. When I was nine years old, Babai watched over me while my mom ran errands. I distinctly remember sitting on the living room rug while Babai sat on the couch slicing dates down the middle. I watched him slice each date methodically, taking out the seed, and setting it to the side near a clear package. He had created a one person assembly line for himself. Sitting in the back seat of my mom’s car the next day, I looked outside the window and saw Babai strolling down the street, carrying a large box that was noticeably too heavy for him to hold. As my mom called out his name, offering him a ride, he motioned “no”. My mom quickly agreed and continued driving. She then explained to me that he was carrying boxes of seedless dates to sell to nearby businesses, as he had done his whole life since he was eight years old in Iraq. While his inability to accept help from others upset me, it was in that moment that I truly realized the incomparable strength that my grandfather had his entire life.

My Babai continued to selflessly fight cancer for many years. I will forever be grateful to him and the mark he left on each person he interacted with, especially me. I can still recall the final facetime call I had with him the night before his passing, and how that goodbye never felt like he was leaving me. I live each and every day knowing that the man who raised my mom and I is with me. Babai’s strength and presence in my life has continuously motivated me to be the strongest version of myself. I dedicate my ride to Babai and would be lucky to make a fraction of the impact he had on me, on someone else.

Alongside Babai, I am biking to Alaska for my teammates, everyone they ride for, and beyond. I am riding for the way that Texas 4000 has and will impact the lives the students it informs, the people it gives endless hope to, and the community-wide love that it shares. I am riding for the strength of those who are currently battling cancer, the strength of those that we have lost, and for the struggles that a family or friend has had to endure in the process. I am riding for you. The list of reasons why I ride grows longer and longer with every given day and as this list expands, I would be honored to ride for someone you love.

To Alaska and Back,
-Noura