Sunday, August 21, 2005

Touching lives and the Pacific

Casey's father, Bill Kane, just completed a cross-country bike ride raising cancer awareness.
BillKane
From the Newport (OR) News Times
By Jake Schubert Of the News-Times

Bill Kane, of Holyoke, Mass., completed a 52-day, coast-to-coast bike ride on Friday, Aug. 12, in Newport by dipping his front tire into the Pacific Ocean.

The ride started with his back tire in the Atlantic Ocean in Newport, R.I. just after the end of the school year.Kane, 56, a high school teacher by trade, was not making this trip for any sort of personal glory. He was making this trip to spread the word about cancer research. On May 18, 2004 his daughter, Kathleen, 28, lost her battle with cancer.

A few years back, Kane got the idea for this bike ride from his son. In the summer of 2000, Kane was going to complete the ride, but Kathleen was diagnosed, and he knew he had to stay home with his family.

Now, a little more than a year after his daughter's death, Kane has been spreading the word about the Jimmy Fund (jimmyfund.org), which, according to the organization's website, "supports the fight against cancer in children and adults at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, helping to raise the chances of survival for cancer patients around the world."

On his trip, Kane has also spread the word about donating platelets. Platelets are irregularly-shaped, colorless bodies that are present in blood. Their sticky surface lets them, along with other substances, form clots to stop bleeding.

Kane says he has long encouraged people to donate platelets, and his brother, Marty, of Grants Pass, who met Bill in Newport, is among the donors.

Kane's trip took him through 12 states: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and, of course, Oregon. The trip spanned 3,300 miles, with a high of 81 miles in a day and a low of 44 miles in a day.

Kane said the ride through Iowa was very tough, noting it was much like a washboard, with a number of hills rolling up and down. He also said the ride was psychologically tough because, although his wife made the trip with him as support by car, when he was on the bike he was "all alone."

"I had a lot of time to think," Kane said, joking that he has lesson plans done for the next 40 years.

He did note that his wife served as a great support system for him and really helped him through the trip, as well as the memory of his daughter. He said many times people he talked to during his journey would say what an amazing thing he was doing, but he quickly refuted their sentiments, stating that what his daughter was able to do - live four years with such a horrible disease - was so much more amazing and inspiring."

If by doing this I can get just one person to donate their time or money or platelets to cancer patients, I feel as if this was a success," Kane said.

Anyone wanting to learn about cancer research is encouraged to visit jimmyfund.org.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

More birthday musings

By Marcus Amaker
I was thinking about her all day today.

Even posted something about it on my web site. she would have been 30!
wow.

She is so loved ... random people here know her, since i still talk about her so much. =).