Sioux Falls Native Bikes Cross Country for Cancer Fighters, Survivors

Three years ago, I wrote an article about inspiring young college student Danny Mohama from Sioux Falls who was biking his way across the country to raise money for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. Apparently inspiration and humanitarianism is genetic in the Mohama family!

As I write this Danny's younger brother Andrew (who is currently a biology major at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota) is on the road heading toward Concordia, Missouri on his 4K for Cancer cross-country trek to San Francisco. Andrew and Team San Francisco are once again raising money and spirits along the way for the beneficiaries of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults.

The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults was founded in 1996 by a family whose college-age son was diagnosed with cancer and found resources for that age-group lacking. The UCF creates communities of support for 18 to 25-year-olds and their families, who are battling, living with, and surviving cancer. The 4K for Cancer is a program of the UCF.

What is Andrew's motive for participating in such a physically taxing enterprise?

The reasons are numerous: three grandparents lost to cancer, friends and parent of friends lost to the disease's ravages, and those currently fighting the fight against it. Andrew wanted to do something. But what? Since his brother had managed this ride, why not him?

He and his team began their trek in Baltimore with the traditional dipping of their rear bike tires in the Baltimore harbor and will dip their rear tires in San Francisco Bay when they reach their destination.

Another vital part of the 4K for Cancer is the community service projects the young people do in communities along the way, and scholarships they award to young cancer survivors to help them continue their education. They awarded their first one to a young woman in St. Louis, Missouri this past week and did other service projects for a cancer support facility there.

Almost everyday Andrew rides in memory of a person who was lost to cancer, beaten it or dedicated to someone currently battling it and that includes members of his own team. Tradition is to write the names of their daily muses on the legs they're cycling with.

Andrew's set his fundraising goal at $6500 and has met that already. So what is he doing? Raising his goal, of course! If you would like to follow his journey and donate to the cause, (as Sioux Falls neighbors tend to do) simply go to Andrew's fundraising page or follow him on his journey by creeping his blog page or on Facebook.

For me lately, it has been so easy to be disappointed and become disillusioned by so much about the human race. And then a kid like Andrew Mohama comes along and ruins my bad mood!

Thank you Andrew! I wish you and your team safe travels, good weather, strong legs and hearts, knowing that there is one more, very proud friend in Sioux Falls, praying for you and cheering you on!

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