When cancer takes the lives of three siblings in one family, it’s hard to imagine how surviving family members cope. For sisters Jennie Firth Sheridan and Katy Firth, they found hope by taking action – specifically, by raising funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Presented by Sawrie Orthodontics, the second annual Ride For Life bike ride begins at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Mountain Arts Community Center, 809 Kentucky Ave. on Signal Mountain.
The event features 10- and 25-mile courses that take cyclists through Signal Mountain’s historic Old Town district and town of Walden, while offering spectacular views of Chattanooga from Signal Mountain’s brow.
Bicyclists can register onsite beginning at 6:30 a.m. Registration forms are also available at area bike shops. All participants will receive an event t-shirt, goody bag, snacks, drinks and the help of support vehicles. Non-riders can participate by being “virtual riders” – people who simply donate funds to the cause.
Proceeds from the event will support the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research. This program enables researchers at the leading edge of scientific technology work to achieve better cure rates and to enhance patients’ quality of life.
For the Firth Family and their many friends, this cause is deeply personal. Sheridan and Firth lost their sister Mary Firth to melanoma in 2011. She was 35 years old. In 2008, brain cancer took the life of their sister, Molly Hooper at age 36, and their brother John Firth, at age 32 in 2009.
The Ride For Life was Mary Firth’s vision – her way of helping her sisters raise funds for cancer research. The inaugural event in 2011 raised over $13,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
For information about volunteering, contact Kristen Levi at kristenblevi@gmail.com.