In Cleveland, some cyclists are honoring a man who dedicated his life to raising money for research, until he passed from the disease.
Sean Strother, who died of a brain tumor in 2022, was part of the Great Cycle Challenge, a group of cyclists who fundraise for childhood cancer research.
“He said to me, ‘Ma, I don’t want a child to go through what I went through, and I’m going to do whatever I can, and pedal as far as I can, and raise as much money as I can, so that there will be treatment options for children,’” Janet Banks, Strother’s mom, said.
Banks suffered an injury while biking a few years ago and has been scared to get back on one since.
But after Strother died, Banks, like many of Strothers’ friends and family, felt she needed to carry on his legacy.
“In our everyday actions, we think about Sean, and just like this bike challenge, we think about this is who Sean is, who he is,” Banks said. “This is who he was, and who he is.”
Banks said her son, a father to two daughters and two stepchildren and friend to many, was passionate about raising money for childhood cancer research.
While he was going through treatment, Strother biked hundreds of miles and raised more than $15,000 through the Great Cycle Challenge.
Now, his friends and family are continuing to take part in his honor, and the money they’ve raised is going directly to a local research lab at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital run by Dr. Alex Huang, a pediatric oncologist who was able to meet the team earlier this month.
“It’s great to come out and support folks who are riding the bikes and raising money to help support this cause,” Huang said. “And it’s great to have this engagement with the community to know that we’re not battling and researching all the ideas alone, but we actually engaging in a team sport.”
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