Little Known Fact

Let's for a day try to imagine a world without Susan G. Komen for the Cure, without the American Cancer Society (ACS), or the 5K runs or the 3 day walks, or without ATLtotheArctic. So, we would be left with doctors and patients. Well ok, so that's how it was in the past. There was less money, less people to support our loved ones, less research trying to find a cure or a drug or a treatment to help save lives.

Let's face it -- cancer is a disease that kills people. It is found in the likes of Lance Armstrong -- I mean he might as well be super man. It's also found in the likes of my sister -- a young, healthy, mother of five kids, with no family history of breast cancer. I hope you get my point: Cancer does not discriminate.

So, while my oddball motorcycle ride and this website might confuse some folks, to me it is a way to help fund research, to help give hope, and to provide a positive outreach for anyone affected by breast cancer, directly or indirectly. The ride is a tool to help raise more money, more hope, and more awareness about a disease that is almost taken for granted at this point. Maybe the ride will help to find a cure, or a less brutal treatment, or . . . Who knows?

I have a personal example to share. A little known fact about me, Daniel Palazzolo: I had two heart surgeries before I turned 18 months old. (I just turned 30 during last year's ride, and I'm feeling great.) Why heart surgery so young? I was born with a heart defect that prevented my heart from functioning properly. And in 1980, the fix for my heart defect was basically to re-plumb the way it worked using a synthetic shunt within the heart itself. But now, in the current day and age, the fix is an actual correction of the defect at birth, with no synthetic material; this allows the heart to develop normally. Why am I saying all of this to you? Well, because I recently met a friend who is on a cycling team that rides for -- of all things -- children with congenital heart defects! So, the money and awareness she is raising goes to helping children with heart defects at birth so that they can live more healthy and normal lives. After hearing her story, I realized my motorcycle ride to the Arctic doesn't sound so crazy after all.

I guess my point is that all the runs, walks, and rides -- whether in your neighborhood or to the Arctic -- raise money and awareness, as well as provide hope and a positive outlook for those who need it, and it really does make a difference.