In the Midst of Battling Thyroid Cancer, This Cyclist Is Planning a Ride to Raise Awareness

I was always an athlete when I was younger, but I had slowed down from about the age of 30 to 45 and wasn’t very active. But in 2015, I got my 1998 mountain bike down from hanging in the garage and rode around the block. It was between doing that and buying a new motorcycle, but I thought to myself, “Well, I already own a bike, so that’s a lot cheaper—I may as well do that.” My heart felt like it was going to burst through my chest when I started riding, but I kept at it—slowly becoming active again and riding every few days. But my world changed in September 2020 when I was diagnosed with stage 4C medullary thyroid cancer at 49 years old. Initially, my symptoms weren’t very concerning, and not being a medical professional, I didn’t realize they were connected to my thyroid. Before I started riding my bike again, I had noticed my face was always red. While it was understandable as I was a little out of shape, I also found that I was exhausted after only one block on my bike, as well as sometimes just walking up a flight of stairs. The big sign that should have concerned me was that sometimes I would have pain in my chest or throat when swallowing—even a sip of water could cause me pain at times. It was random, and I never knew when it would happen, but I just thought, “Oh well, this happens to people sometimes.” But then it started to happen quite often. I also could not breathe deeply when it was cold outside—if it was 45 degrees or colder and I rode my bike, I would get the feeling of liquid in my lungs and I would spend one to two days coughing. [View in Browser]( [Bicycling]( [SHOP]( [EXCLUSIVE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [In the Midst of Battling Thyroid Cancer, This Cyclist Is Planning a Ride to Raise Awareness]( [In the Midst of Battling Thyroid Cancer, This Cyclist Is Planning a Ride to Raise Awareness]( I was always an athlete when I was younger, but I had slowed down from about the age of 30 to 45 and wasn’t very active. But in 2015, I got my 1998 mountain bike down from hanging in the garage and rode around the block. It was between doing that and buying a new motorcycle, but I thought to myself, “Well, I already own a bike, so that’s a lot cheaper—I may as well do that.” My heart felt like it was going to burst through my chest when I started riding, but I kept at it—slowly becoming active again and riding every few days. But my world changed in September 2020 when I was diagnosed with stage 4C medullary thyroid cancer at 49 years old. Initially, my symptoms weren’t very concerning, and not being a medical professional, I didn’t realize they were connected to my thyroid. Before I started riding my bike again, I had noticed my face was always red. While it was understandable as I was a little out of shape, I also found that I was exhausted after only one block on my bike, as well as sometimes just walking up a flight of stairs. The big sign that should have concerned me was that sometimes I would have pain in my chest or throat when swallowing—even a sip of water could cause me pain at times. It was random, and I never knew when it would happen, but I just thought, “Oh well, this happens to people sometimes.” But then it started to happen quite often. I also could not breathe deeply when it was cold outside—if it was 45 degrees or colder and I rode my bike, I would get the feeling of liquid in my lungs and I would spend one to two days coughing. 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