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Camarillo is first 'Harley Hop' for cancer survivors
Twelve women, b r e a s t cancer survivors from a l l over the U.S. and Australia, will take part in the Amazon Heart Thunder ride, an 800mile weeklong motorcycle trek to raise awareness and money for cancer support programs. The women will be served breakfast at Ventura HarleyDavidson in Camarillo on Sept. 24, the first stop or "Harley Hop" on their route from Los Angeles t o San F r a n c i s c o . T h e y ' l l stop along the way for meals at o t h e r Harley-Davidson shops. Tracey Wa r r i n e r, coowner of the Camarillo store, had lost a friend and sisterin-law to breast cancer and didn't hesitate to lend her support when the HarleyDavidson factory in Milwaukee, Wisc., one of the sponsors, called. "It's a good cause," she said. "I don't know anybody who doesn't know somebody" with breast cancer. "It's really awe-inspiring to see the women come in," she said. This is the second year Thunder r i d e r s , who pay their own expenses and commit to raising $5,000 for the c a u s e , have stopped i n Camarillo. The money will go to the Young Survival Coalition and Amazon Heart support activities. Besides bringing attention to the unique needs of young women with breast cancer, the ride provides peer support and a chance for the women to spend time with other survivors. It's a chance "to share, connect, bond and heal," s a i d Megan Dwyer, cofounder of Amazon Heart. The nonprofit group not only raises money for breast cancer programs but takes a "victor, not victim" approach in its support to survivors. Women can join a variety of Amazon Heart adventures. I n December a group of breast cancer survivors will travel to India to build an orphanage for children l e f t parentless by the 2004 tsunami and the AIDS epidemic. Last year, Amazon adventurers built houses for the poor in the slums of Sri Lanka. Dwyer, who r e c e n t l y marked her fourth year of remission, founded Amazon Heart along with fellow survivor Meredith Campbell of Australia. Dwyer, who l i v e s i n Northern California, met Campbell by chance while on a trip to Australia. Campbell was about 18 months ahead of Dwyer in her cancer treatment. Having so much in common, the two struck up a friendship and came up with a tangible, if not unique, way t o support o t h e r young women living with breast cancer. Their i s s u e s , d i fferent from those of t h e i r postmenopausal counterparts, include f e r t i l i t y and pregnancy, the onset of early menopause, problems in career advancement and the drain on financial resources. Mortality rates are higher, research shows, and the disease tends to be more aggressive in younger women. " I t i s a group t h a t 's underserved because there are not enough of us to warr a n t a s much a t t e n t i o n , " Dwyer said. What's more, traditional support groups can have a depressing tone, Dwyer said. As the only person under 40 i n one support group she tried, Dwyer said she didn't feel the other women understood the issues she faced. Dwyer s a i d t h e group hopes t o demonstrate t o other organizations the value of a different approach to supporting people with lifethreatening illnesses. Research was conducted on the benefits their adventures had for women adjusting to life after cancer; the results will be published within the next six months in Psycho-Oncol- ogy magazine, she said. The California ride is one of three held every year- there was one in the United Kingdom last month and an Australia ride is scheduled in October. For information on Amazon Heart or the ride, visit www.amazonheart.org. |
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