Student spends summer cycling 4,000 miles cross country for Ulman Cancer Fund
Brittany Ballantyne
Social Media Director
From chasing after school buses by bike as a child to cycling nearly 70 miles without hands during a cross-country bike ride to benefit children with cancer, senior Johnny Westphal has not just learned a thing or two about cycling, but touching lives.
“It was all I’d been thinking about, dreaming about—a big cross-country bike ride, this way of going about it, doing the charitable thing, to raise money for a great cause, as well as doing a 4,000 mile bike trip seemed like the way to go,” Westphal said.
This bike ride was one of the fundraisers put on by “4K for Cancer,” a non-profit organization that benefits the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. Each rider who participated raised $4,500 before the trip began. Since Westphal’s bike group had 30 bikers, together they raised a half a million dollars for the cause.
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“It was amazing how he grew as a person in order to do this whole process because it was more than a bike ride,” Westphal’s mother, Sonya, said.
It was also more than a fundraiser, according to the ride director Spencer Bonar.
“I think a lot of our service was just interacting with cancer patients and talking with them. It’s kind of inspirational having thirty people show up that were there riding cross-country for you so that was the purpose,” he said.
Andy Westphal, Johnny’s older brother, explained that during their ride each day, the cyclists would wear different people’s names on their clothing who were affected by cancer. The riders then took photos and blogged about their trip.
Andy said he read blogs from others that posted and responded to those photos who said things like, “I saw my sister who passed away of brain cancer last year, he had her name written on your legs during the ride yesterday,” and explained that the riders received lots of “thank-yous.”
Spencer said, “You could see the look in their faces, like, wow these people [bikers] are really devoted and putting their entire summer biking across country to try to inspire me.”
Not only were the cyclists riding mile after mile each day, but they were also on a mission to get meals and places to sleep for free in order to save the money they had fundraised for the organization.
“When people found out what we were riding for, what we had raised money for, it was more often than not people were really quick to donate. Everything from small businesses to big corporation grocery stores and businesses,” Westphal said.
Westphal chose to be a trip leader, meaning he helped coordinate where the riders would sleep at night, as well as routing. He said the riders slept in churches, recreation centers and camped out in national parks that they had visited. All of the food the group ate on the summer-long bike ride was donated. Two vans rode alongside the bikers for water breaks an as-needed assistance.
“It was a lot of support from whether it be ourselves, the families of the riders to complete strangers,” Westphal said. The purpose of the ride, however, was to support those with cancer. Bonar said, “Along the way, every day, you’re guaranteed to meet someone that’s affected by cancer so a lot of it is awareness because you see thirty cyclers all in matching outfits go by.” He pointed out that most of the riders had some kind of personal connection to cancer. The riders and patients themselves would open up about their struggles when they felt comfortable. “It was a positive, encouraging environment,” he said.
Bonar added that “one of the hardest things to talk about is a sickness like cancer,” so the group coordinated activities such as putting on a variety show at a “Hope Lodge” in Indianapolis, a place for patients to stay for free to get care while away from home. The group also volunteered at cancer centers and camps in places like Montana.
At one particular camp, Bonar said there were two main purposes. One was to help children forget they have cancer by creating fun activities, whereas the other purpose was a “chance for them to be with peers who’re going through it,” according to Bonar.
He considered meeting and learning about the cancer patients therapeutic since his father is a cancer survivor. Bonar said he remembers dealing with that tough time and talked about how having that hardship so close to home is difficult. Although those times were difficult for him, he said he gained a “positive healing experience from [the] kids [cancer patients].”
“It’s a really great way to see the country,” he added.
Westphal agreed and said, “It made for a really, really unique setting to learn about other people, it’s really about learning about yourself and your surroundings and something that’s more challenging.”
He said some of his favorite places were Western Montana and Glacier National Park where he had wanted to travel for years.
“It was just as beautiful and just as phenomenal as I’d hoped for and more,” he said.
Westphal said he hadn’t seen a majority of the places he went to and spoke highly of the East Coast, Great Lakes, big cities, small towns, hot deserts and high elevations. He described where he traveled through “diverse landscapes” and “diverse cultures.”
“I got really excited about seeing the world, seeing the place that I live,” he said and expressed that the trip was very special to him and believed it was a mutual experience with the rest of the cycling crew.
The biking team was together for 70 days and Westphal said he didn’t know any of them when he began pedaling. “Spending that intimate time with 30 people for almost two and a half months was a challenge, and was also really exciting because it was everyone having this surreal experience traveling across the country and it was fun to be able to reflect that and experience that with other college students,” he said.
While Westphal was inspired and affected by others during his trip, he also inspired those who watched his journey that began with fundraising. Andy explained, “I noticed a change in that he concentrated less on the actual biking itself, because he can break out in a 200 mile bike ride at anytime previously, so I noticed a change where he was really, really getting interested in the actual organization, the people that the organization was helping and that fundraising he did was amazing.” Starting in February 2012, Westphal fundraised through bar events, raffles and spreading the word of his mission. “Through the fundraising I learned a lot about my strengths and my weaknesses with communicating and interpersonal relationships, prioritizing, trying to defeat procrastination,” Westphal said.
Andy commented, “It’s taught him discipline, I think that it’s taught him how far he can push himself mentally and physically.”
Westphal’s mother said, “He was enthusiastic, he worked really hard to do this. He became collaborative with other people, it was truly something that he really got into and didn’t let go of.” She explained that he did a lot of multitasking, organizing and making friends during his process of reaching his fundraising goal. When she first heard her son’s idea, she said, “Jonathan’s spirit is such that I didn’t even think about it, that’s just who Johnny is, he is a free spirit and I thought it was a wonderful idea and he proved me right.” Bonar similarly said that Westphal is not only a free spirit, but also a goofy guy. Bonar explained that supposedly, the record for biking without touching the handlebars is 80 miles straight in this particular bike run. He laughed and explained that Westphal was determined to beat it and nearly did. “He’s an off-the-wall guy,” Westphal’s brother said. He said although he is older than Johnny, he considers him an inspiration and sees him doing something un-ordinary with his life.
Westphal’s mother also spoke about her son’s future and said, “Johnny is very environmentally inclined and I truly think, and I’m not saying this to be ‘Mom-like’, but he’s going to do something that’s going to make him save the world.”
Westphal himself said he plans to do more long-distance bike rides, both self-supported and driven ones as well. He pointed out that anyone in college can enroll and potentially do the “4k for Cancer” cross-country bike trip and said he would be happy to answer questions should any student have one. He also pointed out that the organization’s website, 4kforcancer.org, is a great tool for learning more. Westphal’s mother said she watched her son [Johnny] chase his school bus around the corner when he was in fifth grade and said, “He’s been doing that [biking] ever since.”
She then said, “Jonathan’s going to make a difference in some way, shape, or form. He’s always been like that and I know he will make a difference in this world.”
Brittany Ballantyne can be contacted at
bballantyne@keene-equinox.com