This September, I'm riding 200 miles in the Great Cycle Challenge to fight childhood cancer — and I'm riding for Brooke.

We lost our daughter to Leptomeningeal Cancer after nine months of fighting with everything she had. Brooke had a beautiful light in her, a way of caring for everyone close to her even as the disease took so much. First it took her ability to dance, to run, to walk. Then her sight. Then, finally, her life. Not a day goes by that we don't miss her face and her voice. Our family will never be the same.

I'm riding because no parent should have to know this grief.

Right now, cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children in the United States. More than 15,700 kids are diagnosed every year, and 38 children die every week. Kids should be living their lives, not fighting for them.

Every mile I ride and every dollar you give goes to the Children's Cancer Research Fund to develop lifesaving treatments and find a cure. If we can change the landscape of childhood cancer enough to save even one child — to give one more family a different ending than ours — it will be worth every mile.

Please donate. Help us give these kids the fighting chance and the brighter future they deserve. Your support changes little lives, and it honors Brooke's.

Thank you.

Mark