I’m thrilled to be participating in 2026 Team Fundraising, a fundraiser supporting Texas 4000 for Cancer! I’m passionate about this cause and need your help! Every donation—big or small—helps me reach my fundraising goal and directly impacts this important cause.

Here's how you can help:

• Donate: Contribute whatever you can. No amount is too small!
• Spread the Word: Share my fundraising page with your friends, family, and social networks. Let’s spread awareness so we can raise more!

Thank you for standing by me in this effort. Your support means the world to me!

Why I Ride:

The women who raised me didn't just teach me how to live—they showed me how to fight with grace, hope, and unshakeable determination. Many of my greatest role models in life have faced cancer, each with awe-inspiring resilience and a contagious determination that continue to guide the ways I show up in the world. I’m honored to carry their stories with me across every mile of this journey.

I ride for my great-grandmother Kitty, whose legacy of kindness and optimism still echoes in my life. She was a woman who gave endlessly to others and taught me to lead with empathy. She lost her battle with pancreatic cancer when I was five, but I remember her funeral vividly. The house was overflowing with people, hundreds of them, all there because Kitty had touched their lives in some meaningful way. That moment made it clear to me just how far a legacy of love can reach.

I ride for her daughters, my Aunt Evie and Aunt Eleanor—two extraordinary women whose resilience in the face of cancer has inspired me beyond words. Evie overcame breast cancer with strength and grace. Aunt Eleanor had an incredible career of shattering glass ceilings in academia, integrating computers into many systems throughout UT Austin, and even went on to conceptualize and develop the entire MIS degree pathway. She lived with non-smoker’s lung cancer far longer than her doctors ever expected, defying every prognosis with courage and grit. 

I ride for my grandmother, Barbara (my “Grammie”) whose humor, creativity, and zest for life are constant sources of joy. She retired when I was born to help raise me, and instilled in me a love of literature, art, and heritage from a very young age. Despite her battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, she met each day with courage and infectious good humor. She has now been cancer-free for seven years, and I am so thankful for every moment with her! 

I also ride for her daughter Adria, whose story ignites my deepest passion for this fight. My aunt was only five when an astrocytoma in her brain changed everything. The radiation treatment meant to save her (administered at levels that would never be given to a child today) caused more damage than the cancer itself, stunting her development and altering the course of her life forever. Throughout it all, Adria brimmed over with energy and joy and taught our entire family to treasure every precious moment we're given. 

Adria’s story is a reminder that treatment can be lifesaving, but it is not always equitable or just. Her story teaches us to ask hard questions about access and quality of care. Too many patients still receive only what is locally available or financially feasible, which is unjust and unacceptable. Every person deserves access to thoughtful, effective cancer treatment, regardless of where they come from or what they can afford.

All of these people are united by their compassion, strength, and the way they made life brighter for those around them. Their stories taught me that while cancer causes unimaginable pain, it also reveals incredible courage. Their stories are personally impactful for me, but sadly they are not unique. Almost everyone has been touched by cancer in some form. It leaves scars, emotional, physical, and financial, that linger long after the diagnosis. At times, cancer can make us feel powerless as we look our mortality square in the face. But this ride is how we can fight back. 

Through this organization’s pillars of Hope, Knowledge, and Charity, I’ve found a way to channel that helplessness into action. Through my loved ones, I’ve come to understand my own ability to make a difference.  Their resilience in the face of pain and systemic injustice is ultimately what drives me to pedal across the country. I ride to carry these stories of the past, be exposed to new perspectives, and magnify all of these voices while fighting for lasting change in our healthcare system.