On Saturday, June 6th, a team of 10 riders representing Woodard participated in the American Diabetes Association’s St. Louis chapter Tour de Cure bike ride.

Prior to the race, our team rallied together to raise over $12,000 in the fight against diabetes! Diabetes affects over 29 million Americans every year and is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. We participated because we all know someone affected by the disease and want to do all we can to help support research to end it. It was a beautiful day to ride, and we had participants in the 10 mile, 30 mile, and 100 mile rides.

Rodney: “As an African American, I know we are disproportionally affected by diabetes. Having a mother who is diabetic played a role in my desire to support and be apart of this year’s campaign for the American Diabetes Association”

Carol: “This race really brought everyone together around a common goal regardless of if you were in the race or not. Personally, I really enjoyed participating in the race and fundraising for a great cause. When I hit a tough spot, my motivation to keep going was that I may have this one moment of being challenged, but those with diabetes have to live with challenges on a daily basis. That pushed me harder.”

Dave: “I had a great experience riding up the Great River Road with someone who had been living with Type 1 Diabetes for 30 years.  I got to talk to him about what that meant, and how much time he has to spend monitoring his health–evaluating how he feels and what that means to his daily activates.  For example, on the ride he carried a blood tester in his pocket which he would have to use at every rest stop and even more frequently than that as he approached the end of the 100 mile course.  It was a good reminder of why I was riding and what the funds we raised were going for—to stop this disease.”

Justin: “I rode and donated because my dad was diagnosed with diabetes over 20 years ago and because of that, diabetes has been on every family vacation, to each holiday gathering, and all the regular days for most of my life. That is a lot of insulin shots, blood sugar checking, and stress from when blood sugar gets too low. Because of the constant impact this disease has had in my life, I want to find a cure! A cure for my dad. A cure for my family. A cure for all of the families, everywhere! To find a cure, we need more research, to do more research, we need more funding.”

George: “Raising funds for the Tour de Cure is important as I know several people impacted by the disease. It turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride and great event to show off our One Woodard spirit.”

Megan: “This was my first year participating in the Tour De Cure.  At first I thought it was just a fun opportunity to raise funds for a great cause but after participating, it was much more.  It is so inspiring to see all the people come together to build awareness and raise money for a condition that affects so many loved ones around us.  I will definitely be participating again next year – but with a little more training!”

Thank you to all who participated! You guys are rock stars. And to all that donated…we cannot thank you enough for supporting our efforts in this fight. The millions of Americans who suffer from the daily struggles of diabetes are lucky to have amazing support like you in their court.