Each year, thousands of people come together for the Ride for Roswell hoping to end cancer. The 24th annual event kicked off without a hitch Saturday morning with the help of lots of sunshine.
Mitch Flynn started the ride after his father-in-law passed away from cancer in 1991. He had the idea to hold an event that would bring everyone in the community together, while raising money for Roswell Park Alliance Foundation.
Twenty-four years later, the ride has raised more than $50 million. In that time, Flynn was also diagnosed with cancer.
"Superficial basal cell carcinoma diagnosis last December on the spectrum of cancer, it's about as low as you can get. I was lucky in that sense but I'm a statistic now like everybody else," Flynn said.
There was lots of laughter, tears and inspiration to go around before the event on Saturday. But Flynn says what you don't see is almost as good as what you do.
"What you don't see, because it's typical, is you don't know who is a cancer survivor because they're not shouting it out. Some people do wear orange t-shirts that are a way to self-identify, but a lot of people don't,” Flynn added. “For a lot of people they don't feel the need to express it or they're reluctant to express it, so you look out at eight thousand people and you know statistically in their lifetime half those people are going to have a cancer diagnosis.”
Survivors that choose to wear the orange t-shirt picked it up from volunteer Robby Noake, a cancer survivor who was diagnosed six years ago. After being treated at Roswell, he wanted to get involved with the ride.
"I was surprised when I started collecting five years ago asking for donations that everybody I've talked to seems like either themselves, family member or one of their friends or an acquaintance has been impacted by cancer, and on a day-to-day basis you would never know that until you start this conversation," said Noake.
He says speaking with other survivors year after year and seeing them wear the shirts is inspirational.
"That means you know that they've been through the battle and they've made it through successfully,” he added.
If you'd like to support the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation by making a donation, click here.