This story was submitted to Glenside Local by Edel Howlin:
Elkins Park resident and nonprofit founder, John Matthews is setting out on a 5-day, over 425-mile ride from Dartmouth Cancer Center in Hanover, New Hampshire to MD Anderson at Cooper in New Jersey to raise funds and awareness for lung cancer patients and their families. As the cyclists and their support cars travel through communities along the route, they will carry a message that captures the purpose behind the journey: “Lightening the load for lung cancer patients one pedal at a time!”
On August 11, Matthews and his four fellow riders will travel through New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey before reaching Camden on Saturday, August 15. The ride is the largest fundraising event of the year for Ride Hard Breathe Easy, a nonprofit Matthews founded after losing his mother, Kathleen, to lung cancer in 2011.
Before she died, Matthews made his mother a promise that he would do something to help other families facing the same diagnosis. Nine rides later, he has helped raise more than $1.2 million and provide direct assistance to more than 3,500 lung cancer patients and their families nationwide.
“I started riding because I made my mom a promise,” said John Matthews, founder of Ride Hard Breathe Easy. “But every year, this ride becomes bigger than my family’s story. It is about every patient who needs help getting to treatment, paying a bill, buying groceries, or simply making it through the hardest days of a lung cancer diagnosis with a little less stress.”
Lung cancer patients often face significant financial challenges beyond the cost of medical care, including transportation to treatment, groceries, rent, utility bills, and other everyday expenses that insurance does not cover. Through partnerships with leading cancer centers, Ride Hard Breathe Easy helps bridge those gaps by providing direct financial assistance for critical needs, including transportation, food support, utility and housing assistance, wigs for patients undergoing treatment, and other resources that allow patients to focus on their care rather than financial hardship.
Over the course of five days, riders will travel through New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, carrying with them the names and stories of those affected by lung cancer. Along the route, the group will stop in communities to meet with supporters, hospital partners, volunteers, and local organizations while raising awareness of Ride Hard Breathe Easy’s mission and the financial challenges many lung cancer patients face during treatment. Supporters can donate, volunteer, ride alongside participants, or follow the journey at www.rhbe.org.
About Ride Hard Breathe Easy
Ride Hard Breathe Easy (RHBE) was founded by John Matthews after he lost his mother to lung cancer in 2011. The idea began in 2017 as a cross-country bike ride to raise money and awareness and two years later RHBE became a nonprofit organization that has helped hundreds of patients and caregivers dealing with the financial stress of a lung cancer diagnosis. RHBE partners with MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper , Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health Lung Center, Duke Cancer Institute, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Health, Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, Dartmouth Cancer Center, and Johns Hopkins Cancer Center to support their lung cancer patients. For more information visit: rhbe.org
For all the latest news, follow us on Facebook or sign up for Glenside Local’s “Daily Buzz” newsletter here.
Photos: Edel Howlin, Temple Now