Ishpreet Singh
Ishpreet is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth 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 Seattle.
What is your connection with the cancer community?
Late July in Richmond, as I was crossing the quiet summer campus of VCU, when I got a call from my dad. His tone was distressed, desperately telling me that I need to come home to DC. “I can't, I have work today and tomorrow.” Agitated with my response, he stressed that it was an emergency, but I didn't budge. Five minutes later I received a call from my uncle, and as he further explained, the urgency of the situation dawned on me. I rushed to INOVA Fairfax hospital hoping that she was still there and able to speak. Time began to slow down and my heart dropped as I entered the room, my aunts and grandmother surrounding her. The doctor says that life support is keeping her alive and there isn't much time left. She feebly whispered to me, but her voice had dissipated, she tried to write a message but her muscles had failed her. As the hour went by, she passed into a coma. At the doctor's suggestion, my dad agreed that it was time to remove the life support. The final minutes turned into an eternity as I watched Mom take her final breath and end her 10 month battle with ovarian cancer. Cancer is a disease we often hear about at school or in the media, but until it hits close to home, we tend to ignore the results of it. This is exactly what I did until my mother was diagnosed in October 2009. Day by day after watching my mom struggle with chemotherapy and it's side effects, I was brought closer to the reality of what cancer really means.
Why are you riding the 4K for Cancer?
Although my mom's passing away was the last thing I wanted happening, it was out of my control to do anything about it. However, something positive I got out of the experience was the desire to be an activist in the cancer community and an unexplainable motivation to challenge myself. 4K for cancer is an opportunity for me to do both. In addition, as a graduating senior entering dental school in the fall, this is perhaps the last opportunity I have to do something as physically challenging and exciting as this. I want to make the most of possibly the last long summer of my youth and do something memorable and life changing. Even though this ride seems long and exhausting, it serves as a reminder that millions of people out there are still suffering with cancer and without a cure. Although it may not be in our direct power to heal them, we do what we can by keeping them in our thoughts while riding and fund raising to secure a better future for humanity.
