Nevus Outreach hits the road to further our cause
The wisdom of Albert Einstein explains a lot in this world – including the connection between riding a bicycle across the Oklahoma prairie and discovering a treatment for large congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN).
“Life is like riding a bicycle,” Einstein said. “To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
The Nevus Outreach 2014 OK Freewheel Shirts
Nevus Outreach is all about moving forward knowing as we tell our story and support each other while pursuing answers and solutions, each step of the journey brings us closer to a cure. And this summer we take Einstein’s advice quite literally by riding out onto the open road for the Oklahoma Freewheel bicycle tour, to raise funds that will help keep our organization moving toward the goal of connecting families with the best available medical research.
“The money raised goes toward the conferences where we get the top doctors in our field to come and meet with individual families and patients,” Mark Beckwith, Nevus Outreach chief executive, said. “You cannot find that level of knowledge and experience in one place available to nevus patients anywhere else in the world. If we charged people what it actually cost, many would not be able to afford it. We have tried to strike a balance, trying to make it feasible for as many people as possible to attend.”
Beckwith will be hitting the road June 7-13 along with cyclists Agustin Izquierdo and Jorge Rello to ride across the Sooner State raising funds to support our organization. The cyclists are accepting pledges from donors now for their 428-mile journey. Thanks to generous sponsors in a matching campaign, every $1 raised for Nevus will be matched, up to a total of $32,000. For those who work in businesses that will match donations, the dollar amount continues to grow. In these cases, each $1 pledged by an individual can result in a $4 donation to Nevus Outreach.
An Oklahoma tradition
The annual Freewheel journey, an Oklahoma tradition occurring each June since 1979, is geared toward promoting cycling tourism offering a ride that crosses the entire state. Combining the cycling tour with a Nevus Outreach fundraiser has an added benefit of allowing our organization to take our story on the road, raising awareness of CMN mile after mile.
Donating to this fundraiser helps put money in the coffers toward our 2016 conference, which will be a huge event for the Nevus Outreach organization, our researchers and those who come to us seeking answers.
“We describe our conferences as ‘family reunions with the family you never knew you had’ and that is a quite accurate description in so many ways,” Beckwith said.
Established in 1997, Nevus Outreach is dedicated to providing awareness and education about large congenital melanocytic nevi - which in very general terms involves very large birthmarks or moles - and the medical challenges that can be related to CMN including neurocutaneous melanocytosis.
Nevus Outreach provides support through a toll-free telephone lifeline, online discussion groups and publications, promoting medical, social and psychological research, promoting the latest research news and holding biannual conferences.
How to support Nevus Outreach through Oklahoma Freewheel
To donate in support of the riders and Nevus Outreach, visit our fundraising page. For more information about this grassroots Nevus fundraiser, contact Beckwith at 918-331-0595. To learn about Oklahoma Freewheel, visit www.okfreewheel.com.
