Blind Cancer Survivor Bikes to Redefine Possible

Blind cancer survivor Tim Conners and friend Carlos Toribio will be setting off on June 6th to tandem bike over 4,000-miles across the country on the Northern Tier Bike Route.  Their goal is to inspire a nation with hope, and raise funds to support children and families dealing with life threatening illnesses and disabilities. To learn more including how this mission came to be, make sure to read the story below.



               Over 18 months ago, my Ithaca College buddy Carlos happened to be reconnecting with his college friends.  The day he reached out a mission was born.  I mentioned my plan to find someone to tandem bike with across the country.   From there the mission truly came to life, and starting in June, Carlos and I will be setting off on a tandem bike to take on the over 4,000-mile Northern Tier Route from Washington to Maine.  Our goal is to inspire others as we ride to see you aren’t your circumstances, but what you do with those circumstances.  We will also continue the goal of raising money to help children dealing with disabilities and life threatening illnesses.  To truly understand what a great undertaking this is you need to know my story.

My name is Tim Conners, and at 15 years old, a diagnosis of t-cell acute lymphoblastic Leukemia changed my life forever. It would take my sight in less than 48 hours, it would push my body to heart, lung, and kidney failure, and only after spending 100 days straight in the hospital was I finally strong enough to return home.

              At that time in my life I felt broken. I could no longer walk. I had to receive food through an IV because I was too weak to eat. The bone marrow transplant that was supposed to save my life reset my immune system, which meant I had to spend a year in isolation. And to top it all off I finally had to come to grips with the fact that I was going to be a blind person living in a sighted world the rest of my life. My mantra became “Cancer may have taken a lot of things away from me including my sight, but it will never take my vision.”

              Since graduating from high school I have been blessed with the opportunity to inspire audiences around the world with my story of succeeding in the face of adversity, take on a mission to summit Africa’s highest peak Mount Kilimanjaro, and through it all have been able to raise tens of thousands of dollars for charities supporting individuals and their families in situations just like mine, but in 2019 I knew I still wanted to do more.  That desire to want to pay it forward for others just like so many have been there for me started me on a journey, and I am proud to say that after becoming 10 year’s cancer free in September,2020.  We had hoped to complete this mission last year but due to COVID we had to push it off until 2021.  My medical story continues to be a complex one but Carlos and I will be the team that gets us from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.




Our goal is to raise $20,000 to help cover the costs of the mission, and this would help us cover the cost of our specialized tandem bike, our lodging at campgrounds across the country, and the thing we are most excited about, and the funds to establish a non for profit; The Redefine Possible Foundation.

We would love your support in helping us inspire individuals across the country and making this mission as successful as possible. Any donation can go a long way, and all excess funds raised from covering the cost of the mission will go directly towards foundations to help kids dealing with situations just like Tim’s.

If you are unable to donate, but would still like to be a part of the mission and what we are doing, please feel free to share this page to help us spread the word. Also, to learn more about the journey and how to get updates on the mission, check out

timconners.com

Any form of support means the world and might just allow us to have a long lasting powerful impact on the life of another.