LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A group of Texas cyclists rode from Plainview to Lubbock Monday, raising awareness about the urgent need for lifesaving donations.
The Lone Star Circle of Life Tour is a 12-person cycling team of Texans, all with deeply personal connections to donation. The team promotes donations of blood, marrow, organs, tissue and stem cells during their week-long, 500-mile trek across the state.
“We’ve been doing this tour for many many years for the purpose of making Texans aware of the fact that we need donors, all kinds of donors,” Mabry said.
They also rode in honor of families impacted by donation on the South Plains. After cycling nearly 60 miles, the riders met the people they were pedaling for at UMC.
Cyclist rides for miracle child
Melanie Hartman from Happy rode in honor of Ruby Benevedes. The 9-year-old was one of the miracle kids featured in this year’s Children’s Miracle Network Telethon.
“It was amazing meeting Ruby, she’s so vibrant and full of life. It was amazing to see her spunk in life and her dreams,” Hartman said.
Ruby is living with the most severe form of sickle cell disease and is waiting for a bone marrow transplant.
“She’s here, healthy, you can tell that she’s ready to do jumping jacks or do whatever she wants to do. But there’s actually a war raging inside of her,” cyclist Tim Dixon, who also rode for Ruby, said.
He’s encouraging more people to sign up to donate bone marrow, so she can live out her dream of becoming a nurse.
Teacher encourages student donations
Cyclists can also ride in honor of donor advocates like Whiteface teacher and assistant principal Eliseo Rocha Jr.
After watching his parents go through several transfusions, he encouraged his students to donate blood at least three times in high school so they can earn their cord for graduation.
“You know they all wear the National Honor Society, the straight A’s, but I tell them that, it used to be red, now it’s orange and purple for Vitalant. I tell them, that’s what I look for. Because nowadays, that shows me that there’s young people that care about more than themselves. They’ve already impacted, by the time they graduate, at least nine lives,” Rocha said.
One time, the students took it a step further. Rocha made a bet he would get a tattoo if all his students passed and made their three donations. One student couldn’t donate at the last blood drive before graduation, so she traveled to Lubbock on the weekend to make sure Rocha had to get the tattoo.
“It’s something that everybody can do. It doesn’t take very long and it’s something that goes a long way to help somebody live another day, another week, months, years,” Rocha said.
The Lone Star Circle of Life cyclists will continue their tour across Texas, heading to Abilene next.
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