Riding for a good cause

Some ride for the exercise. Others do it as a family activity. But the underlying reason is clear to all the riders. They want to help fight multiple sclerosis.

Today, about 2,000 cyclists from numerous teams in the Kansas City area will ride in the MS 150, a fundraising drive that gives money to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

 The starting line is Raymore-Pecular High School. The finish line is in Sedalia, Mo., some 82 miles away. But some riders take detours so they can stretch it to 100 miles. Riders will head back to Kansas City on Sunday.

About 260 of those riders will be from Kansas City’s largest team, State Street and Subaru, named after their main sponsors, and comprised mostly of riders from Eastern Jackson County. 

 The team’s underlying name is United We Ride. That name was created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which was the day after the team finished the ride in 2001. The slogan for the team is “United We Ride for the Cure.”

Dr. Richard Mark, the team’s coordinator, has been riding since 1993, well before they started the team. He rides for the obvious reasons, trying to raise money to battle MS and the exercise.

But he also rides for his family.

His father asked him to start riding with him so they could do something together. Mark, a dentist in Independence, eventually got his four children, all boys, involved in the ride.

But it goes deeper than just spending time with his family.

Like so many of the riders, the disease has hit his family.

He rides to honor his cousin, Janet, who died last year after suffering with the disease for decades.

“It just took the life out of her,” Mark said. “It started chipping away at what her body could do. The last 15 years of her life, she lived in a nursing home bed. Her legs and arms sort of shriveled up, being paralyzed at times.” 

Mark rides for Kevin Sharp, a former LPN at Independence Regional Hospital. Sharp helped him when they worked together one summer at the hospital when a young Mark was a nurses aid.

“He just always looked out for me,” Mark recalled.

The men went their separate ways after that summer. But at a party following the MS ride one year, he saw Sharp again.

Sharp was in a wheelchair, suffering from MS.

Mark saw him again at a worship service. Sharp told him that he was blind.

“It just kinda hit me so hard at that point,” Mark said. “Here was a guy who had so eagerly helped me 20 to 25 years and providing a service to others. Now, he couldn’t see or walk.”

Sharp began counseling newly diagnosed patients, telling them that there is a life after their diagnosis, according to a profile on Sharp in The Examiner in 1993.

The team’s goal is to raise $155,000. They’re at a little over $113,000 right now. The team will have raised over $1 million since forming if it reaches the $155,000 mark this year.

The money is pooled, with half staying in the community and helping families affected by the disease. The remaining money goes to the national MS society for research to find new ways to treat the disease that has no cure.

The ride is grueling and challenging to finish, Mark said. That’s why they’ve done numerous practice rides leading up today’s event.

“In a way, you get a sense of someone that has the disease because you’re struggling with finishing the ride, and sometimes you’re in pain,” he said.

Each rider has to raise a minimum of $200. The MS 150 is different than other bike rides in the metropolitan area, Mark said.

“Everybody who signs up for this ride has to make a commitment to the cause and to prepare for it,” Mark said. “It takes money and time to do the ride.”

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system. It gets worse over time and eventually could render the person helpless.

The disease tends to get overlooked from a publicity standpoint, Mark said. Cancer and diseases that strike children get the attention.

Dan Cunningham, of Grain Valley, will be riding this weekend. He does it for the challenge. The aspect of completing the ride attracted him at first. The second year he rode, he began to fully understand the positive impact of the charity ride.

Although none of his family have MS, he’s gotten to know people who do. A friend donated money to support his cause. The friend’s wife has the disease, something Cunningham didn’t know.

“If I had never done this ride, I would’ve never known his wife has had MS for the past 15 years,” he said.

Chris Pace, of Independence, says he’s “totally addicted” to riding. He used to run cross-country, so he’s used to endurance-type activities.

However, he knows people afflicted by the disease. A friend of his good friend has MS.

“It just hit him,” Pace said. “He’s a young guy in his 20s, and it just hit him out of the blue. And he’s just a train wreck.”