Giving back after cancer by biking the USA

In August of 2022 I was diagnosed with stage one testicular cancer, I had the cancer removed and was on the up and up. Six months later I was diagnosed with an unrelated stage four Lymphoma. After 17 rounds of intense chemo, where I was admitted to the hospital for 5-16 days at a time, multiple late night ER trips, and a net weight change of over 200 lbs in a year, I was finally declared in remission in October of 2023.

Throughout my treatment, I wanted to do something huge if I got the chance to keep living. I would watch videos of people doing huge cross country bike trips, followed every day of the Tour de France from my hospital bed, and dreamed that I'd get the chance to try it some day.

After I entered remission two organizations, First Descents and Send It, both offered opportunities to connect with other young cancer survivors as a part of high adventure trips. First Descents provides weeklong kayaking, climbing, and surfing trips while Send It does skiing, cycling, and climbing.

The healing that I did on these trips is impossible to overstate. For young people with cancer, not only do you have cancer, but you have to watch your friend's lives continue without you, hoping that you'll get to rejoin the crowd. Your body is trying to kill you and learning to trust it again, to do new things in new places with people who get it, is immeasurably valuable.

So, to celebrate my two years of remission, and to give the gift of doing something awesome to the version of me who was bald, weeping, and moonfaced on his third round of DA-EPOCH-R chemo, I'm biking the US and raising $8,000 for these organizations. I want to help provide the same healing experience I had to other young adults who are going through the same hell that I did.

Of my $10,000 goal, $2,000 will be going to food expenses on the trip and everything else I raise will be split equally between the two organizations. Please help by donating what you can to give the gift of life and healing to our community.

Life before death,

Matt Des Biens