Courage Classic 2014

This year, Anya will be riding in the Courage Classic, a three day bike ride in the mountains in order to raise money for Children's Hospital Colorado. I rode last year with the intention of just doing it once. It turned out to be an incredibly uplifting and inspiring experience, so this year, our whole family will ride. Anya was excited to set up her own page, and you can see it as well as donate here:
http://www.couragetours.com

Below you can read what I wrote last year about why I choose to ride:

On May 4, 2010, my daughter, Anya, was diagnosed with cancer. The following day, I stepped through the doors at Children’s Hospital Colorado for the first time. My legs felt heavy as I neared the doors, almost as heavy as my heart. I had always heard how wonderful the hospital was, but never did I imagine that I would go there. For my own child.

As the days progressed, we were thrown into a whirlwind of anesthesiologists, OR nurses, oncologists, ophthalmologists, and nurse practitioners rotating through the rooms that we occupied on either the 1^st (radiology), 2^nd (OR), or 7^th (oncology) floors. It was the worst of news that brought us there, but we were continually greeted by some of the best people.

One year after being diagnosed, Anya had been under anesthesia fifteen times. We had been to the OR so often that a nurse asked my husband if he worked there. In addition to all her time in radiology and the OR, Anya underwent six months of chemotherapy. Due to the genetic nature of her disease, her sister also had to go under anesthesia multiple times to be examined. All this is to say that we spent many days at Children’s Colorado. It did, in fact, get easier to walk through those doors. While we shed many tears there, we also had a lot of smiles. Those people I had heard say it was a wonderful place, were right.

It is now three years out from the day she was diagnosed, and Anya is thriving. Cancer took a toll when it took her eye, but she has proven herself to be better, braver, and stronger than we could have ever known. I have a lot to be thankful for, and Children’s Colorado is one of them. I call it The Best Place I Never Wanted To Go.