Lindsay Shulock

Lindsay is a sophomore at Suffolk County Community College.  In the summer of 2012, she is riding with a group of college students on a 70 day, 4000+ mile bike ride from Baltimore to Seattle.

What is your connection to the cancer community?

Cancer does not only involve its victim, but the people surrounding that person, leaving a ripple effect on the world causing personal strength to be tested, goals to be met, and change to occur. Hearts will be lifted along the way. When I was fourteen years old, I learned something that my peers would learn later on in life: this world can be unfair and cruel at times. There was a girl named Iliana who never made it to her freshman year of high school. I never got the pleasure of meeting her. My very best friends knew Iliana from middle school and told me how she was in the hospital because her body was fighting leukemia. On November 6, 2006 her body lost the fight. She was 14 years old. You could hear a pin drop in the hallways of school for a week. It hurt me to see the pain on my friends faces. They told me how Iliana was so strong, how she was nice to everyone, and loved to smile and get the most out of life. I went to her church ceremony and memorial service. I felt connected to her even though I never had the privilege of meeting her. So when my friends told me about this foundation to raise money for cancer victims and survivors called Relay for Life my answer was an immediate yes. I wanted to do everything I possibly could to celebrate the memory of her presence and make it easier for her family. Our Relay for Life group had to raise a certain amount of money to be donated to the American Cancer Society before the celebratory walk event at the end of the school year. Months prior our group dreamed up and fully participated in car washes, bake sales, and dinners where all the profits and special donations go to Iliana’s Team for Relay for Life. I baked cakes, went to local restaurants to ask for donations, and got wet, dirty, and sunburned at the car wash. Relay for Life united everyone in such a special way that I continued to participate in it the following year. Every event was filled with laughter and enjoyment because we were all people who cared about Iliana who united in her memory to support a cause to help her family in their time of suffering and remorse. I cannot mourn for Iliana because I did not know her personally. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think about her whenever I hear the word cancer. In this world today, cancer is a common means of death and I am truly blessed to have not had it affect my immediate family. However, Iliana’s death has forever left an imprint on my heart that I will never forget. I am young and know that cancer will come back into my life perhaps more than once in my lifetime. I don’t feel like tragedy needs to take someone I love away from me in order for me to donate my time to a valuable cause. Cancer is a cause that needs supporting and I would be proud to spend my time helping those in need.

Why are you riding the 4K for Cancer?

Inspire: To fill someone with the urge or ability to do or feel something. My best friend Ilana Selli (not Iliana) participated in the 4K for Cancer last summer and my first impression upon it was “You’re biking across America during the summer? Are you crazy?!” But as soon as I began reading her blogs and after I got her letter, I understood. The 4K is not just about the hardships that everyone will have to physically endure during the journey, it’s much more than that. It’s about being a positive affect on people’s lives along the way. It’s about supporting this cause that is bigger than you. It’s about donating your time and gathering your strength in order to raise $4,500, and then committing yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally again for 70 days to go on this life changing journey. It’s about working as a team with everyone in the group on a day to day basis by supporting each other. It’s about having that connection with strangers, with group members, with yourself, and with your bike. That is what I imagine it to be. I have been thinking about this journey often and a few nights ago I had a dream. I was in a cycling store with Ilana while she was educating me on what type of gear I’ll need on my trip. After an hour or two of questions about chaffing and blisters and what’s going to be comfortable and what’s going to keep me cool or warm, I had my pile of gear on the checkout counter and there was a woman behind us who asked what this was all for. We told her about the 4K and how I was participating in it this summer. She told us about her close family member who passed recently because of cancer and how she was heartbroken because of it, and then she volunteered to pay for my $200 worth of gear on the counter. After that dream I thought to myself “This is the 4K.” I felt like I understood more than ever what it was about: touching people. Whether it is emotionally, mentally, or spiritually it’s about touching people. Perhaps making them think in a new way, even if it’s just for a minute. Ilana inspired me on a new level. She is the reason why I chose the 4K. Yes, I have my own personal reasons as well, but she is the seed that implanted the idea in my brain in the first place. She made it possible for me to sit here and write to you about how much I love the 4K already. The woman in my dream was simply an example about all the wonderful hosts we will stay at and all the giving people who cook will for us or let us use their showers on our journey. The 4K for me is a bond I will share with people and the interactions we will remember forever.