Steve Chu

Steve studied at the University of Maryland, Balitmore County.  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?

The only person in my family that has been impacted by cancer was my grandfather. I don't remember him much, and only have one memory of him. I was 3 years old in Taiwan and I remember him sitting on the couch, with a white stick in his mouth, puffing away at it. I asked him what it was, and he smirked while placing the unknown object in my face and said "here, try it out." The next thing I remember is he proceeded to laugh hysterically, watching me turn red in the face, coughing while rolling around the floor and clutching my throat as if a grenade had exploded in my throat. Yes, my grandfather gave me, at the tender age of three, my first puff of a cigarette. I wish I knew him more. From that one memory I could tell that he was a easy going man with a fantastic sense of humor. I am also deeply saddened that this is my one and only memory of that man. Even his death is still a mystery to me (family shares different stories ranging from cancer to "the sickness"), I can assume that my chain smoking grandfather passed away from lung cancer. I may not have the strongest connection with the cancer community, but what I do share is a sense of loss. Even though I only have one memory of my grandfather to share with others and myself, there is a sense of regret of not being able to know my grandfather more.

Why are you riding the 4K for Cancer?

I wish I could hop in a time machine and go back in time, to take those cigarettes from him. To be able to give him a few more years so that we could have some more memories. Alas, if my stubbornness really does stem from my grandfather, then chances are he'd throw cartons of empty cigarettes at me while kicking me out of the house. Just being there for him during his struggle would suffice. Being there, not as a immature 7 year old, but as a more mature and grown up me. I will never be able to buy him dinner, a beer, or even a Christmas gift. This ride is what I can do, and it is dedicated to that chain smoking old man that I wish I could have gotten to know better, and to everybody else that has been impacted by this terrible disease.