Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s Dare to Ride Weekend –
Please Support Our Courage Classic Riders
Why I Ride – Dr. Fran Hickey
I am riding the 25th Courage Classic for my son James and other children who have Down syndrome. James has served as my hero since birth, as he has worked so hard to progress in life through many challenges. Also, James enjoys life more than anyone I know and has the greatest smile. I have the honor of being the Medical Director at the Anna and John J. Sie Center for Down Syndrome and have witnessed the benefit of many children with Down syndrome being treated at the Children’s Hospital Colorado by remarkable physicians and therapists. Please support the Anna and John J. Sie Center for Down Syndrome at the outstanding Children’s Hospital of Colorado. Support My Ride!
Why I Ride – Erin Hickey
I am riding in the 25th Courage Classic for brother James and other children who have Down syndrome. Support My Ride!
Why I Ride – Connor Long
As a young man with Down Syndrome, Connor is able to take on this challenge because of the life-long assistance and encouragement of the Sie Center’s Senior Physical Therapist, Patricia Winders.
Since his toddler years, Connor’s physical and motor development has benefited from Pat’s periodic assessment and guidance on matters from general activities and targeted exercises to custom orthotics and consultation with school teachers and staff. With firm and patient persistence, Connor and parents were encouraged to face his reluctance to ride a bicycle by enrolling in a learn-to-ride camp (www.iCanShine.org) at age 15.
Incredibly (and as Pat had suggested was likely!), Connor made great advances in just one week and with additional practice, developed a great love for biking that simply has transformed his and his family’s lives for the better. He rides routinely around his community and on open space trails in the Boulder area. He is excited to be member of The Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s Dare to Ride team this year as a way to both highlight the importance of motor development research and therapies in the Down Syndrome population as well as to honor Pat for her now decades of professional dedication and personal friendship! Support My Ride!
Why I Ride – Susan Lubbers
As the sister to an amazing young woman, who happens to have Down syndrome, I love to stay involved with local Down syndrome organizations. After moving to Denver over 6 years ago, I came across the Denver Adult Down Syndrome Clinic. The uniqueness of our medical clinic made me realize how underserved the Down syndrome population is with respect to resources. I’m proud to be a member of the board, and am excited about the growth we’ve seen in the last year or so. We are preparing for our annual Dancing with the Stars fundraiser on Aug 23rd, check out our website for more info (denverdsclinic.org).
After meeting Connor at a Global Down Syndrome Foundation event last summer, I quickly realized he’s the perfect candidate to help me initiate a “buddy training” program. Like all Coloradans (native or not), we share a common desire to explore the beauty of this incredible state, and we found a common interest in biking. We have been training for several months now, and look forward to crushing the 10.5 mile climb from Frisco to Copper this weekend! Connor continues to impress me every step of the way, from his dedication to training to his final hill pushes to his ability to make us all laugh, every pedal of the way. I’ve enjoyed every minute of our training sessions, and he’s fast becoming one of the most influential people in my life. I secretly wish he was a few years older, since my sister Elizabeth has about 11 years on him 😉 He’d make a fantastic and entertaining bro-in-law. Support My Ride!
Why I Ride – Cynthia Ord
Cynthia, age 30, lives in the Wash Park area and works in sales and online marketing for a small adventure travel company in Centennial. Her grandparents, parents and three of her four siblings also call Denver home. A big fan of the outdoors, she has summited over a dozen of Colorado’s highest peaks and co-organizes an annual cycling tour called BABRAC (Beer and Bike Ride Across Colorado).
I heard about the Courage Classic ‘Dare to Ride’ team through one of Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s e-newsletters, and I thought it would be a great way to combine my cycling hobby with my support for a great organization. As my brother Tom (age 25) is entering adulthood with Down Syndrome, he’s outgrowing the resources that are oriented toward kids and teens with Down syndrome. We’ve been having lots of fun at Global’s dances for a few years now, and I really appreciate the life enrichment they provide for Tom and young adults like him. Support My Ride!
Why I Ride – Greg Avery
Children’s Hospital Colorado saved our newborn son Raphael’s life five years ago, and this miraculous place has been an integral part our family’s life ever since. Raphael lived in the neonatal intensive care unit for two months. Being there every day, we witnessed life-saving medicine done for infants from across Colorado and as far away as the reservations in North Dakota. Raphael has since blossomed with the help of specialists at Children’s Sie Center who have experience in Down syndrome that’s unmatched anywhere. Complicated surgeries, cancer therapies, treatment of rare diseases, preventative medicine and rehabilitation – this is what the doctors and nurses do every day for hundreds of kids.
This July, for the fun and the challenge, I’m riding the Courage Classic bike ride to raise money for the hospital. My brother Sean & I are cycling 214 miles over beautiful mountain passes for three days with 2,000 other riders. I’m raising a modest $1,000 to thank the hospital and to help others like us. It would be part of the overall goal to get $3 million in donations. I’ll be happily riding July 19-21 regardless of what money is raised. The helicopters and ambulances will keep arriving at Children’s, too.
Please donate, if you can. Support My Ride!
Why I Ride – Sean Avery
I’m riding in the 25th Courage Classic for kids like Raphael, my nephew. Rapha is now a rambunctious, happy 5-year-old, but at birth, he faced a host of serious complications that sometimes arise with Down Syndrome, as well as a life-threatening systemic infection. He was flown from Boulder Community to Children’s, where he went into the neonatal ICU and spent the next several weeks receiving world-class, round-the-clock care. In the weeks, months, and years since, through diagnostic services, surgeries and therapies, Children’s has continued to support Rapha’s journey from the roughest start imaginable to thriving, ordinary boyhood.
Rapha will not be the last child to face a life-threatening illness, and his family will not be the last to navigate a frightening diagnosis. The Courage Classic is both a personal challenge and an opportunity to support positive outcomes for kids and families who need Children’s Colorado Support My Ride!
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