My ride for Mike

Hey, would you join me on my Ride for Mike? No, you don't have to get on a bike and pedal, but you can go with me in spirit. It's for a good cause and a great guy!

Mike is a friend that I met while working at BJU. He's a young guy - about 15 years my junior - but has a great sense of humor and is a big NASCAR fan. He is a youth pastor in North Carolina. He's married and has a beautiful little girl.

Oh, he also has a brain tumor.



To make a long story short, while Mike and I worked together, he would have frequent headaches. It never seemed to dampen his spirits, but you could tell something was bothering him. After leaving to go to his position as a youth pastor, things got worse and he went to the doctor.

That is when the discovered the tumor and attacked it aggressively. After surgery (that lead to some major complications) and chemo treatment, it really was a miracle that Mike was recovering. We were SO excited! However, just a few weeks ago, we learned the tumor had returned to about the same size as before.

Mike is a fighter. He will continue to battle this. It is just so helpless to not be able to do anything to change his circumstance. I just have the need to do something!

That is where the Ride for Mike 2007 comes in.

I rode in the Palmetto Peloton Project last year. At the time I was participating just because it was my first opportunity at a metric century. I wasn't thinking about the cause that the ride supported.

This year is different. I want to raise as much money as I can to go to the Greenville Hospital System Oncology Research Institute and the Lance Armstrong Foundation. In the process I want it to represent Mike. In my dreams, I would raise the most money for the project and it would stand along with my ride as a tribute a great guy who I miss.

Will you consider helping me? You can go to the Ride for Mike 2007 Web site or go directly to the Palmetto Peloton Project site. Click on the donate option and be sure to designate me, Jonathan Pait, as the rider to which you are contributing.

Thank you very much!