A number of years after struggling a catastrophic leg harm, former NFL QB Alex Smith is aiming to bike 200 miles throughout the Bay State on this weekend’s Pan-Mass Challenge as he raises cash for most cancers analysis.
The bike-a-thon fundraiser for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has change into fairly private for the ex-quarterback, he informed the Herald this week. Last yr, his daughter Sloane was recognized with a really uncommon mind tumor.
“It has changed our lives forever,” Smith mentioned forward of this weekend’s PMC. “The last year-plus has been extremely difficult.”
His daughter final May was rushed to the ER with stroke-like signs. After an MRI, docs found that she had a really uncommon mind tumor — known as a neuroepithelial tumor — and she or he wanted to endure an emergency craniotomy.
Sloane bounced again from the mind surgical procedure, however the tumor stays an unknown. She has to get scanned each eight weeks, and she or he underwent one other resection just a few months in the past. Again, she rebounded nicely from it, however the household continues to “live scan-to-scan,” Smith mentioned.
“It never goes very far in your mind as a parent,” he mentioned, later including, “It’s not something you ever anticipate going through.”
Before his daughter’s tumor analysis, Smith — who performed for the San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Washington Football Team — turned an advocate for the restoration footwear firm OOFOS.
Following his horrific leg harm that nearly led to an amputation in 2018, Smith began to put on OOFOS, which he burdened was key for his restoration.
Now, Smith is a member of Team OOFOS for his first PMC. OOFOS started driving within the PMC and elevating cash for affected person care and most cancers analysis again in 2015 when their first worker, Duncan Finigan, was recognized with Stage 4 metastatic breast most cancers.
“OOFOS brought up doing the PMC last year, and now it hits even closer to home with my daughter,” Smith mentioned.
He’ll be driving from Sturbridge to Bourne on Saturday, after which waking up on Sunday with possible sore legs to bike from Bourne to Provincetown. His longest experience throughout coaching has been 35 miles.
“This will definitely be a big step up for me,” Smith mentioned, including that his feelings for the weekend vary from “excited” to “nervous and anxious.”
“I’m pumped to be going out there, but this is all so new to me,” he mentioned, noting that that is his first foray into endurance sports activities.
Following the devastating harm in 2018, Smith returned to the NFL and was the 2020 AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He will at all times have a everlasting drop foot in his proper leg.
“My leg has felt great,” he mentioned. “There are some everlasting limitations, nevertheless it’s nothing I really feel like I can’t overcome.
“I do have to adapt, but I think that’s also what excites me about going out to do stuff like this,” he added.
Smith shall be driving alongside 6,400 different cyclists this weekend. PMC’s purpose this yr is to lift a record-breaking $70 million for Dana-Farber. PMC raises more cash for charity than some other single athletic fundraising occasion within the nation.
“Roll the window down and clap this weekend,” PMC founder Billy Starr, who has participated in all 44 years, mentioned to motorists.
PMC donates 100% of each rider-raised greenback on to Dana-Farber to fund lifesaving most cancers analysis, remedy and affected person care. The group is Dana-Farber’s single largest contributor, accounting for greater than 60% of the annual income on the Jimmy Fund. Last yr, the PMC raised $69 million, bringing its 43-year contribution to Dana-Farber to $900 million.
To study extra in regards to the Pan-Mass Challenge and to donate, go to www.pmc.org.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”