Group kicks off ride for Charlie
(Courtesy photo) The Riding Coast-to-Coast for Charlie group poses together at their "rideout" in Anacortes, Wash. The group members are riding across the county for Charlie Read, the 16-year-old son of two of the cyclists, to raise money and awareness of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy and will be heading through Sandpoint on Monday. From left, Bill Tobey, Bruce Watson, Julie Kumble, Marianne Watson, Clif and Arleen Read, John and Sara Aierstuck, Richard Donovan and Mark Protti.
SANDPOINT — When Charlie Read of Massachusetts completed the 70-mile Tour de Quabbin on his own, just short of his 12th birthday, he told his sixth-grade class, "I felt like I could do anything."
Charlie suffered from epilepsy and the occasional seizures never slowed him down until last summer, when he died at the age of 16.
This summer, seven cyclists are traveling coast-to-coast for Charlie and the 3,000 young people killed each year by sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. They will roll through Sandpoint on June 26 before heading toward Bull Lake, Mont., early the next morning.
Charlie, the son of cyclists Clif and Arleen Read, grew up on a bicycle. At two, he rode his first Tour de Quabbin on the back of his dad’s bike. Riding coast-to-coast had been a Read family dream since before Charlie’s death.
"This trip has been on my bucket list for many years, but now it takes on even greater significance as we ride in Charlie's memory, and also raise funds for the SUDEP Institute to support research on epilepsy," said Clif Read in an email to the Daily Bee. "Charlie would have joined us for part of this summer and as painful as it is not having him with us, we are trying to channel our energy into something positive that will help unlock the mysteries of SUDEP."
While Charlie is not with the group, his bike is, with riders taking turns and encouraging donations to the SUDEP Institute of the Epilepsy Foundation. The goal of the institute is to Carry out SUDEP education and awareness programs, supports research into the causes and prevention, and provides counseling and resources for families affected by SUDEP.
According to the institute's website at epilepsy.com, SUDEP occurs when a person with epilepsy dies unexpectedly and was previously in their usual state of health. The death is not known to be related to an accident or seizure emergency, and when an autopsy is done, no other of cause of death can be found. According to the site, about one out of 1,000 adults and one out of 4,500 children with epilepsy die from SUDEP each year.
To start out their mission, the group met up in Anacortes, Wash., and began with a ceremonial rear-wheel bike dip in Puget Sound on Sunday, said cyclist Bruce Watson. After a short warm-up ride Sunday, they hit the road Monday and spent the past couple days in the North Cascades National Park area as they head this way.
As they head toward Boston, Mass., the cyclists are averaging approximately 68 miles per day. While some of the cyclists have made such trips earlier in their lives — the average age of the group is 58 — it is their first coast-to-coast trip for the group as a whole, Watson said. He said none of them have been to Sandpoint before, but Watson and his wife, Julie, were in Idaho a couple summers ago when they "enjoyed" a stay in McCall and Boise.
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.