Arizona cyclist hits road to raise money for cousin’s rare cancer

Earn one penny for every mile ridden.

That is Cameron Hatch’s goal as he rides his bike from Alaska to Chile, hoping to raise funds to help relatives fight a rare form of cancer.

“I pedal for four or five days, then I take a day off,” Hatch, who is from Gilbert, Arizona, told the Lethbridge Herald in Alberta, Canada. “I’m averaging about 100 kilometers a day, depending on the weather and the winds.”

Hatch is raising money for his cousin, Cody Hatch, who suffers from metastatic paraganglioma. The disease also afflicts Cody’s mother, Crista, who is Cameron’s aunt.

Two of Cody’s siblings also carry the gene that puts them at risk for the disease.

Because the disease is so rare, the family has been forced to travel to Maryland in order to be tested, treated and studied as researchers look for a cure, according to Cameron Hatch’s website.

The family will continue to travel back and forth to the National Institute of Health in Maryland where research is being done to find ways to treat the disease.

They will potentially undergo many trial treatments while searching for a treatment that works on these tumors. The father has had, and will continue to have, to take a great deal of time off of work to help at home and the hospital.

To learn about Hatch’s cause, visit Pennies4Miles.org website.

Donations can be given through the faimly’s GoFundMe page.