On February 5, 2023, the day after my daughter Claire's 9th birthday, our world changed forever.

Claire was diagnosed with a rare brainstem tumor. In the days and months that followed, we faced brain surgery, treatments, MRIs, uncertainty, fear, and countless prayers. Like so many families facing childhood cancer, we found ourselves navigating a world we never expected to enter.

But we also discovered courage.

Claire taught me what resilience looks like. She taught me how to keep moving forward, even on the hardest days.

Her journey also taught us the importance of research in a very personal way.

The treatment Claire received after surgery may not have been available had she been diagnosed just a year or two earlier. The advances that gave our family hope existed because researchers, doctors, patients, and families came before us. Every breakthrough and every new treatment option exists because someone chose to invest in research.

One of the things that makes me most proud as a mother is that Claire chose to donate the portion of her tumor removed during surgery for research. She knew it wouldn't help her directly. She simply hoped that what doctors learned from her tumor might help another child someday.

Even at nine years old, she understood something powerful: the hope we were given came from those who came before us, and she wanted to help create hope for the children who would come after her.

This September, I'm riding 300 miles—a mile for each of the approximately 300 children diagnosed with a brainstem tumor each year. Every mile is dedicated to the children fighting today, the families walking beside them, and the researchers working toward better treatments and cures.

Thank you for helping fund life-saving childhood cancer research and bring hope to families like ours.