Emily’s Story

     Along with the bike design, contestants were asked to provide a story about their design and their breast cancer experience. Each woman who submitted a design has her own unique experience, and each experience resulted in interaction with the Young Survival Coalition, a community of support for young survivors of breast cancer. This is an excerpt from Emily’s story:

     “My husband and I met backstage in Boston when I was a young professional ballet dancer—new to Boston and the Boston Ballet. I had an eight-year career with this company. It was a life of fierce athleticism, great artistic satisfaction, and wonderful camaraderie between passionate, hardworking and disciplined young women and men. 

     In 2004, years after I left dancing to pursue my education and raise my young daughter, I found a lump in my left breast on Mother’s Day. It was benign. Soon after, my mother experienced a second occurrence of breast cancer, and my aunt (my mother’s sister) passed away after her second occurrence. Just prior to the six-year mark of my lumpectomy, a friend reminded me of the guidelines for women who are high risk—that I should get my annual mammogram. I did. It showed that I had early stage breast cancer.”

Finding the Tour de Pink

     As Emily dealt with the realities of breast cancer treatment and recovery, she was searching for hope and reassurance that she could regain her health and enjoy her life again. This search, much of it online, resulted in the discovery of the Young Survival Coalition and their fund-raising rides, the Tour de Pink.

      “When I saw young women doing the Tour de Pink,” said Emily, “it was like looking into the eyes of people like me who had been where I was going. I saw in the ride, in those faces, a community of people who in the very act of being together cycling were also bearing the weight of what they had been through. I wasn’t sure how on earth I was going to bear what I was going through when I was first diagnosed, but here were other people who had gotten through and had found each other along the way.”

Cycling as Therapy

      Emily did not consider herself a cyclist before learning about the Tour de Pink, but an incredible group of friends helped her get ready for the 3 days of saddle time.

      “I had this great worry that I wouldn’t be able to keep up,” Emily recounted. “I kept asking my friend James, ‘What if I can’t keep up?’ James kept replying, ‘If you fall behind, I will wait for you.’ Riding, like recovery, involved waiting for myself, waiting for others, and letting the people I was closest to help me; telling others the truest and most difficult realities of what I was facing, so we could experience all of it together. That is perhaps the most powerful and inspiring thing in all of life.”

2012 YSC Tour de Pink Rides

      The 2012 Tour de Pink East Coast ride rolls from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., September 28-30. The 2012 Tour de Pink West Coast ride rolls from Thousand Oaks, California to Foothill Ranch, California, October 12-14. To participate in a Tour de Pink ride, and to learn more about the Young Survival Coalition, visit Youngsurvival.org.

Liv/giant Avail Inspire

     Proceeds from sales of the Liv/giant Avail Inspire, as well as proceeds from sales of Liv/giant Inspire jerseys, socks, and water bottles are being donated to the YSC. The limited-edition Liv/giant Avail Inspire road bike is available at the following Liv/giant Retailers You can also visit our Store Finder to find your local retailer’s contact info to inquire about the Liv/giant Avail Inspire and accessories.