Mom’s battle with cancer inspired bike shop owner to help
Holt Tucker, an Ortega Forest resident and owner of Open Road Bicycles of Avondale, said his mother is the reason he has become one of an increasing number of men raising money to battle breast cancer.
Kathy Tucker fought breast cancer nine years ago and survived but, unfortunately, had a friend who was not so fortunate, he said.
“She’s doing great,” he said, referring to his mother “It hit me hard, but she has a really good support system. The main goal is always to find a cure, and that’s what I am hoping, that we will beat it.”
To help others overcome the struggle, Tucker has joined this year’s local Real Men Wear Pink fundraiser, which empowers men to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. To that end, he will be organizing a race Oct. 3 in Willowbranch Park, auctioning off a bike and wearing his pink bicycle jersey out and about, including at a recent Jumbo Shrimp game.
Holt is one of many men joining in the fight against breast cancer. Nationally, Real Men Wear Pink has grown exponentially since it began six years ago, said American Cancer Society Communications Director Joe Culotta. The event grew from a campaign in Jackson, Tenn., in 2013 and expanded to 200 communities and 3,500 participants in 2019, Culotta said, adding that campaign participants have raised $9.5 million nationally so far.
Local participants say fundraising has grown in Jacksonville as well. “The trend has definitely been that we raise more money year over year,” said Charlene Shirk, local campaign public relations chair. Shirk said this is the fourth year for the Jacksonville-area campaign.
The group has raised $289,000 total since 2016 and seen participation rise from 28 men the first year to 38 in 2019, Shirk said Last year alone, the local campaign brought in $140,000, campaign Co-Chair Chris Condon said in a news release.
Each year, organizers start with a list of 60 men as potential fundraisers and then narrow down the list somewhere in the 30s or 40s, Shirk said
“It ends up being a magical mixture, different backgrounds,” she said. “Some are business managers, some are corporate leaders, some are educators.” All are asked to make a commitment to fundraise or write a check for $2,500 at minimum.
While some men contract breast cancer, it occurs overwhelmingly in women. Still, men are powerfully impacted as well, Shirk said.
“When a woman in their life is diagnosed, the men in their life are significantly impacted,” she said, noting that men may have to take over the women’s normal roles due to appointments and treatments and chemotherapy-associated sickness.
“She is going to go through physical changes that her partner is obviously going to go through as well with her,” Shirk said “The minute a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, then man in her life is impacted.”
Those interested in helping Tucker’s campaign can visit his bike auction site at https://www.32auctions.com/RMWPpinkbike1.
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