PERRY, Fla. (WTXL) — 76-year-old Rick Perez spent the last few days pedaling across the panhandle, with each mile as part of his mission to help fight breast cancer on behalf of his lost friend Laura.
"As responsible a person as she was," Perez said, "because of her health belief, she hadn't got a mammogram, and had she taken that kind of precaution, at her age, maybe she'd still be with us."
Perez says he's now on his fifth cross country ride. "The first route was from Santa Monica to St. Augustine," he recalled. "This one is going across the country from Seattle to Key West."
ABC27 caught up with him in Taylor county as he biked his way through the Big Bend.
In Laura's honor, Perez connected his rides with the Lazarex Cancer Foundation, "which provides help to late-stage cancer patients to help finance clinical trials, something that can be very expensive, especially because a lot of clinical trials aren't near where a person lives," Perez said.
Trailing in a van marked according to his cause, his wife Sandy keeps track of his progress on Laura's Ride 5 as he travels across all types of terrain. "We've gone through a lot of green country, a lot of forests, through mountains, we have seen lakes, rivers," Perez said. "It's a beautiful country." While he's enjoyed the ride, he says, it's not always been an easy one. "Probably the hardest really has been lately, because of the heat and the temperature."
Perez topped 2,000 miles before ABC27 caught up with him at the Old Highway 19 RV park in Perry Florida. In addition to finding a scenic and secure location to rest for the night, Perez found support from park owners John and Vicky Denney. "We thought it was just a regular reservation," park owner Vicky Denney said laughingly. Then, through more difficult emotion, she added, "We actually have three people in our family right now that are battling breast cancer, so it was very timely, and heartwarming to see what they're sacrificing to do this for people that they don't even know."
The Denney's donation is one of several bringing Perez' total raised funds to nearly $10,000 dollars for this trip so far, and more than $50,000 over the course of five years. The funds all go toward finding a cure, and focusing on prevention.
Perez and his wife say they're touched by each family they meet like the Denney's who share how their lives have been impacted by breast cancer, and that they even keep a prayer box in the van with each survivors' and supporters' names inside.
When Perez left Perry, he had just over 700 miles left on his way to Key West, where he'll finish this year's ride.
If you would like to support his efforts in raising nationwide breast cancer awareness all year long, you can donate to LaurasRide.org.
