09.18.08
NothingButNets.net and Thanks for the donations!
From NothingButNets.net - “Despite the magnitude of the problem, there is a simple and cost-effective solution to prevent malaria deaths. For just $10, we can purchase a bed net, deliver it to a family, and explain its use. Bed nets work by creating a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night, when the vast majority of transmissions occur. A family of four can sleep under an insecticide-treated bed net, safe from malaria, for up to four years. The benefits of bed nets extend even further than the family. When enough nets are used, the insecticide used to deter mosquitoes makes entire communities safer—including even those individuals who do not have nets. Although $10 for a bed net may not sound like much, the cost makes them out of reach for most people at risk of malaria, many of whom survive on less than $1 a day. Nets are a simple, life-saving solution, but we need your help to provide them to those in need.” Here’s how you can help.
While the charity ride I am participating in for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is still two weeks away, I just wanted to say Thank You! to those who have donated to the cause so far. Of course, I understand that these are financially difficult and uncertain times and I fully understand that most people want to help out others, but it’s not always possible. No one knows this better than I do, since it has been difficult for me to find work that doesn’t result in a total compromise of my immune system. Just being in the presence of people on occasion has repeatedly resulted in my being sick for four weeks at a time. I’m actually fortunate that it hasn’t been fatal for me yet.
BTW, while everyone knows that endurance cycling is how I prepare my body, preemptively, for harsh cancer treatments, like bone marrow transplants that involve high-dose chemotherapy, and it’s my preferred form of rehabiliation every year after I leave the hospital, the other reason why I’m doing the MS NYC event on 10/5 is because my neighbor’s father has MS. And the reason why I ride my fixedgear bike is because it’s hard for me as a cGvHD patient. (No, cycling for me is not easy. Just ask anyone who rides with me.) And it reminds me, with every painful pedal stroke, that while I’m suffering to turn over the pedals for 100+ miles, there are those who I am riding for that have it much worse than that.
According to Transportation Alternatives, the organization that puts on the NYC Century, I was “one of 5,517 riders who took to NYC streets on September 7th and made this year’s NYC Century Bike Tour the best ever!” Cool. It goes on: “Together we raised $250,000 to support T.A.’s campaigns to win more bike and better designed bike lanes, more bike parking, indoor bike access in buildings and other key improvements that will make everyday bicycling safer and more enjoyable.”