Aleksandr Ayrapetov
Aleksandr is a junior at Stoney Brook University. In the summer of 2012 he is riding with a group of college students on a 70 day, 4000+ mile bike ride from Baltimore to Portland.
What is your connection with the cancer community?
When I was about 16 years old my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. I remember thinking about all of the people that were important in my life, and realized that she was at the top of the list. I was devastated. I just couldn’t understand how someone who stayed so healthy her entire life, and someone who was so influential and meant so much to me could potentially be taken away by such terrible circumstances. I was angry because I felt it was unfair. Eventually she beat the disease, but I will never forget how it felt to come so close to losing her. Ever since, my greatest wish was for no one else to feel the way I did at that time. It was in that moment that i understood that life is just too precious to be jeopardized by a horrible condition that I think can be cured by the collective efforts of the medical and civilian communities alike.
Why are you riding the 4K for Cancer?
No matter how difficult the 4k will be, I know that I'll garner the strength to keep going by just knowing that a bike ride across an entire country is a walk in the park compared to the challenge of cancer. There’s something inspiring about a challenge, and there’s no better challenge that I can think of than biking across the country with 4K for cancer. Ever since I got my first tricycle as a little boy, it’s been a dream of mine to bike across the United States. And I can’t think of a better way to see our beautiful nation than on a bicycle. A lot of people dream about doing something to better the world; something much bigger than themselves. History books are full of people who have changed the world in one way or another. That’s why this is such an exciting opportunity for me. I want to bike for all the brave people, like my grandmother, who never lost hope or courage in the face a deadly disease. I owe it to people who never gave up the fight against cancer, because that’s what’s most inspiring.
