Team Donate Life, a group of UC Davis physicians, nurses, medical staff and organ transplant patients, wheeled onto the 25th annual “Race Across America” course on Tuesday, June 13th. Over this week, they are pedaling more than 3,000 miles in a grueling race that also allows them to promote awareness about organ donations and raise money for transplant research. The cyclists, who left the Southern California coastal town of Oceanside last Tuesday, are relay-racing in a non-stop, 24-hour-a-day pace over mountains, across deserts and through the windy, rolling topography of middle America. Teams and individuals must complete the Race Across America course in nine days or less to be competitive. UC Davis' team is hoping to pedal more than 400 miles a day before finishing up on the Atlantic City boardwalk next week. Last year's team placed fifth overall in their division after speeding across the country in less than 7 days. Members of the team include two transplant recipients, Bobby McMullen and Neal Baszarnik. McMullen is not only a double-transplant recipient with a new kidney and pancreas, he also is legally blind. He and Baszarnik are joined by six other teammates, including Richard Perez, a surgeon who directs the transplant program for UC Davis. The team is supported in this extreme endurance test by more than a dozen crew members, including organ donor Jason Weckworth, who provided one of his kidneys to his father for a transplant done at UC Davis in 2003. Another crewmember, Dale Gredvig, received a new liver at UC Davis nearly eight years ago. “It's pretty exciting to be crewing with the same doctors who saved my life,” said Gredvig, whose surgery was performed by Perez and UC Davis transplant surgeon John McVicar. “I'm fighting the odds every year, and everyday is a gift at this point,” added Gredvig, who also provided support for the UC Davis team last year. Team Donate Life is dedicated to raising awareness about organ donation and plans to educate the public in cities along the race route. The group is a non-profit foundation that has raised over $100,000, which is helping to support a UC Davis research fund called “Transplant Hope” and Golden State Donor Services, which is the Sacramento region's organ procurement network. To find out more about the Team Donate Life effort, or to get daily updates about the cyclists in their race across America, visit www.teamdonatelife.com.
The members of the 2006 Team Donate Life Cycling Team are:
|
