When Walnutport-native Maureen McGowan told her family and closest friends she was diagnosed with cancer, the response for support was universal:
"People would say, 'I wish there was something I could do.' "
Now, she says, she knows exactly how they felt.
Just a few months after her last round of chemotherapy to treat Hodgkin Lymphoma, she learned her brother, Don McGowan, was diagnosed with another form of Lymphoma.
"We were all really shocked," says McGowan, adding that their family had no history of Lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. "Lightening isn't supposed to strike twice. He was always there when I needed him, wishing he could do more. I understand that now."
McGowan, 33, who now lives in Brooklyn, did come up with a way to support her brother Don, a 41-year-old Slatington resident, and others fighting lymphoma. This weekend, she will ride in a 42-mile bike race across five boroughs of New York City, to raise money for lymphoma and to pay tribute to her brother's fight against cancer.
"I know what he's going through, just having to put one foot in front of the other and it's an individual journey," she said. "Knowing that there isn't anything big I can do to help him feel better, I thought the race would be a good way to pay tribute to all his resolve and help raise money for a foundation that's doing great things."
McGowan will be part of a group of cyclists riding under the "Team Research Lymphoma" during Sunday's 2009 TD Bank Five Boro Bike Tour in New York City. The team will be among 30,000 cyclists riding from Lower Manhattan, through Harlem and the Bronx, crossing into Queens and then Brooklyn, and then traveling down the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to the finish line in Staten Island.
This will be McGowan's first bike race. Since her recovery last year, she said she's embraced fitness. "Going to the gym is less of a chore," she said. "My attitude is more like, 'Hey, I'm alive.' Exercise is a celebration of my regained health."
McGowan was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2007.
"I was in complete shock," said McGowan, recalling the diagnosis that came after her doctor tested a pea-sized lump near her collar bone. "No one in my family ever had it and I had no reason to believe I was sick. My first thought after hearing the word cancer is, 'I'm going to die.' "
Family, friends and co-workers formed the heart of a support system that helped through more than six months of twice-a-week chemotherapy treatments.
"My brother always reminded me that anytime I needed him, and he really meant anytime, he would be here for me," she said.
Don McGowan, who is still undergoing treatment and faces a stem-cell surgery, said his sister is never far from his thoughts -- especially during the tough days.
"I never saw her breakdown. I never saw it hit her or get to the point where she would say: 'I can't do this.' That helps me feel stronger," said Don McGowan, who keeps active with his four sons. "The greatest suffering is watching my family go through this. It takes a lot of prayer and faith in God to make it through."
Maureen said her ride this weekend will be "a tribute to all his resolve."
Next year, she plans to join the Lymphoma Research Foundation team again and raise money for their cause. The one difference, she expects, is that her brother will be riding beside her.
marion.callahan@mcall.com
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