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 – speci?cally, by raising funds for cancer research.
Presented by the Bread Basket, the annual Ride For Life bike ride begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 7, at the Mountain Arts Community Center, 809 Kentucky Ave. on Signal Mountain. The event features 10- and 30-mile courses that take cyclists through Signal Mountain’s historic Old Town district and town of Walden, while offering views of Chattanooga from Signal Mountain’s brow.
Bicyclists can register online at
www.begoodbestrongride.com. There is an option to register as solo or as a part of a four person team. 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. Door prizes from Suck Creek Cycles, Center MedSpa, the Sports Barn, Track 29 and more are available to riders and those making donations.
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 scienti?c 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 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.
Ride For Life was Mary Firth’s vision – her way of helping her sisters raise funds for cancer research. Since 2011, the event has raised nearly $38,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
For updates and more information, go online at www.begoodbestrongride.com or “LIKE” the event’s Facebook page: Ride For Life. Be Good. Be Strong.
Ride For Life is made possible through the generosity of its sponsors – The Bread Basket, Tennessee Interventional Associates, Ben Parker Co., Maxi Auto Service, Farmer+Brown, Horton, Ballard & Pemerton Attorneys at Law, Baker Donelson, P.C., Buhrman Law Firm, P.C., Estes Equipment Inc., Fancy Rhino, John H. Daniel, Mountain Arts Community Center, Pruett’s Signal Mountain Market, Scenic City Photography, Suck Creek Cycle, Track 29, Tubatomic, and Yogi’s Primo Promo.