Published: May 07, 2008 02:21 pm            

Riding motorcycles to fight cancer

Local family’s Relay for Life team organizing Poker Run for May 24

By PAUL LORENZ

paul.lorenz@mcleansborotimesleader.com

McLEANSBORO — A family is using its fondness for motorcycles to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.

The Katie-Dids, a Hamilton County Relay for Life team, will hold its first Ride 4 Life Poker Run on Saturday, May 24, starting at the Laborers’ Local 1197 union hall in McLeansboro.

“The whole object is to raise money,” Katie-Dids team member Andy Blackwell said, “and you might as well have fun doing it.”

Speaking about family members — including his wife, Linda, and his brother- and sister-in-law, John and Donna Broady of Mt. Vernon — sitting around the kitchen table of the Blackwells’ home for this interview late last month, Andy noted, “Everybody here has a motorcycle license.”

“It’s a hobby, and we wanted to change things up a little bit,” he said of the family’s annual Relay for Life fund-raising efforts. “And people who ride motorcycles are very giving.”

Andy and Linda Blackwell and other members of their family have been involved with the American Cancer Society’s annual fund-raiser for the past five years, since the death of Linda’s mother, Katie Tucker, in May 2003. She died of lung cancer, Linda said, choking back her emotions.

Named for Tucker, the Katie-Dids includes about two dozen family members and friends, Linda said. They’ve tried various ways to raise funds in the past — including the sale of tie-dyed T-shirts — but this year “decided to put all of our energy into a poker run,” she said.

The idea for the poker run sprang from a Relay for Life tradition, Andy said.

“In the past, motorcycles have done a lap at the start of the event, and then we’d give our donation,” he said. “We wanted to make it a little more interesting this year.”

The Katie-Dids Poker Run will include stops at Black Diamond Harley Davidson in Marion, Carter Motor Sports Kawasaki Suzuki in Mt. Vernon and Lemonds Yamaha Honda & Kawasaki in Fairfield, according to an event flyer.

Poker run participants also will be invited back — at no charge — for a lap at the Relay for Life opening ceremony here June 7, Andy said.

And any make or model of motorcycle is welcome at the poker run, Andy said.

“It’s not just for Harley riders,” he said.

Other family members of the Katie-Dids are Leamber Broady, daughter of John and Donna; Andrea and Billy Craddock, Donna’s son and daughter-in-law, and their daughter, Katie; Marie Wheeler of Dale — Linda and Donna’s sister — and her husband, Jeff “Tinker” Wheeler, their son Jeff Jr. and daughter Linda; and the Blackwells’ sons Andrew and Denny.

Much of the money raised through Relay for Life goes toward local patient services, Linda said. And the ongoing Relay for Life effort “is paying off,” she added.

“More and more people are surviving cancer as we raise more money and more research is done,” she said.

The main objective, Donna Broady said, is to raise awareness of and find a cure for cancer.

“And the Katie-Dids are going to do it until it’s done,” she said.



Getting involved

What: Katie-Dids Relay for Life Poker Run

When: Saturday, May 24 (registration at 9 a.m., last bike out by 11 a.m.)

Where: Laborers’ Local 1197 union hall, 109 W. Market St., McLeansboro

For information or preregistration: Andy Blackwell, 927-6478; John Broady, 237-9640; Jeff Johnson, 521-8350; or Jim Craddock, 838-6401



• The Hamilton County Relay for Life, an overnight event, will start at 6 p.m. June 7 on the courthouse square in downtown McLeansboro. For information: Rhonda Cox, 924-3051 or Rhonda.Cox@il.usda.gov.

        

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