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INSPIRING IMPACT

Welcome !TO THE FAMILY
Virtual event allows new bleeding disorders
families to join the family-like atmosphere

BY ASHLEY SMITH, STAFF WRITER

The coronavirus made 2020’s Gears for Good National hometown. With Gears for Good being a long-distance ride, the
2020 virtual option allowed riders to log miles at their own pace
Ride, part of Hemophilia Federation of America’s Team
throughout the course of an entire week, rather than
Resilience endurance fundraising team, look three days, offering some welcome flexibility for
those who participated. TJ said he wanted to
completely different from past years. join the virtual challenge with his mom to
get exercise and because he had been
HFA intended for cyclists and the support stuck inside due to COVID-19.
team to be together in person, cycling
through the scenic landscape and “My mom and I had some really
small towns of West Virginia to good conversations while biking. I
Washington, D.C., to celebrate wanted to join to help others with
the 10th anniversary of the ride’s bleeding disorders and because it
creation. When the ride was looked fun,” said TJ.
turned virtual, it was a great
disappointment to those who

planned to participate in this annual Riders were challenged with riding
tradition — a tradition that would
have brought blood brothers and Lindsey Russell and husband Rob participated 156 actual miles, and when asked
sisters together for an opportunity to as a family of two, to raise money for the hardest part of the challenge, TJ
welcome one family within the community. HFA's Helping Hands program. exclaimed, “Biking! We did so much in a

day. My little kid muscles didn’t like it very

This family of new participants — Meagan much. Also, I wiped out a few times and had to
Murray and her 10-year-old son, TJ, of Rhode Island take my blood medicine more than I wanted to. By the
— had been unable to participate in the Gears for Good National last night, we had 8.9 miles left, so we decided to go out with our
Ride previously, but this year they knew they could make it happen lights on and finish. It was the first time riding in the cold and I wish
because the event transitioned to a virtual challenge. I had gloves.”

They chose to accept the challenge and rode 156 miles in their Gears for Good helps raise awareness of bleeding disorders
and funds for HFA’s Helping Hands program, which provides

6 DATELINE FEDERATION < www.hemophiliafed.org