2024 Cycle for Survival Recap

 

2024 Events

Our wonderful teams participating in the New York and Boston Cycle for Survival events had a blast and raised close to $5,000 for Brave Like Gabe. The events included an instructor-led cycling session, powerful stories from cancer survivors and caregivers, and research updates from doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering. One of our team members commented, "It was a privilege getting to ride for Brave Like Gabe and to share this experience with my friends. The speakers at the end who shared their journey with cancer and their two-year-old son, Joey, brought me to tears, and I’ve been a ball of emotions ever since."  We are so grateful for our community showing us that #runningonhope can look a lot like #ridingonhope!

The money raised by our Brave Like Gabe teams will directly support our multi-year grant happening at MSKCC. At Brave Like Gabe, we believe in the research and breakthroughs happening at MSKCC and we are grateful to help fund these efforts.

World Cancer Day Match

On February 4th, in celebration of the international day of awareness, there was a dollar-for-dollar World Cancer Day match. This match leverages the annual Brave Like Gabe contribution to Memorial Sloan Kettering and a generous donation by the Met Life Foundation to raise even more money for rare cancer research.

 
 
 

Our History with Cycle for Survival

In 2018, Gabe Grunewald attended her first Cycle for Survival event in New York City. Not only did she cycle on a team, but she also spoke at two indoor cycling events and shared her rare cancer story. She left those events feeling inspired, hopeful, and dedicated to return each year.

“YOU ARE MY PEOPLE! Raising millions of dollars for rare cancer research through a group fitness activity? Sign me up — I’ll be here with a Brave Like Gabe team every year from now on, you can 100% count on that.” - Gabe

Gabe’s enthusiasm paved the way to our annual participation in Cycle for Survival. Each spring, we offer Team Brave Like Gabe participation and fundraising in multiple locations around the country. We believe this event makes a huge difference as most rare cancers have zero FDA-approved treatments and little dedicated research funding.

Our participation in Cycle for Survival directly impacts our grant-making efforts. Gabe received personalized cancer treatments and participated in an immunotherapy clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Additionally, MSKCC was one of the first research grantees of the Brave Like Gabe Foundation in 2019.

Presently, our commitment to fund rare cancer research has led to a multi-year grant of $600,000 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This grant is funded in part by Cycle for Survival fundraising. The researchers, Dr. Carol Brown and Dr. Fiyinfolu Balogun with co-investigator Dr. Debyani Chakravarty are studying Endometrial Carcinoma in Black Women and Pancreas Cancer Genomics in Minorities.

 
 
 

FAQs

  • A rare cancer diagnosis can feel lonely and scary. In 2009, Gabe Grunewald searched the internet after her diagnosis and received very few answers on treatment/research for Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma. The loneliness sunk in. It became clear to her that community and hope were essential in the cancer journey. She became committed to funding research for rare cancers--and hopefully diminishing the loneliness one might feel in their rare diagnosis. Cycle for Survival is a movement to beat rare cancers.

  • Anyone who wants to participate should click this link to choose their location followed by clicking “Join Our Team”, by entering the team password which is “BLG”.

    Then participants will be prompted to create their account

  • Boston – Saturday, April 29, 1:00pm-5:00pm at Constitution Wharf

    New York City – Sunday, April 30, 8:00am-12:00pm at Wollman Rink, Central Park

  • Each location will have 2 bikes available for Team BLG for a total of 4 hours each. There’s a maximum of 8 riders per bike (minimum of 30 min of cycling for each rider), but teams can be smaller if needed.

  • Each city will have a fundraising minimum of $5,000, regardless of the number of riders. The more riders the more fundraising you can do - let’s raise as much money as we can for rare cancers!

  • 100% of every dollar you give will go directly to groundbreaking research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK).

    Since 2007, the Cycle for Survival community has raised over $300M to support doctors and scientists in the pursuit of bold ideas. From FDA approval of new drugs to the development of innovative diagnostic tools, Cycle for Survival–funded breakthroughs are transforming the way rare cancers are treated around the world.

  • We are LIVE AND IN PERSON IN 2023! If you cannot make it to one of these in-person rides perhaps consider donating to one of the teams.

  • We ride! There will be dozens of riders, Equinox instructors bringing the hype, and inspirational rare cancer survivors reminding us why we ride. Each event is four hours long, outdoors, and team members are invited to hang out and cheer for others when not riding. Who knows? There may be a dance party involved. You’ll have to ride to find out.

  • You sure will! Each fundraising rider will receive BLG gear to wear on the day of the event, and you can earn additional swag by exceeding fundraising goals.

  • Nope! Think spin class: stationary bikes + enthusiastic coach + other Cycle riders = super fun sweaty fundraising workout! You will ride for at least 30 minutes, depending on the size of your team, but no balance or helmets required!

 
 
 

Additional Questions? Email info@bravelikegabe.org

 
 
 
Brave Like Gabe Foundation