Pedal the Cause

As Living Proof, I am proud to volunteer for Pedal the Cause in the fight against cancer. Pedal the Cause is more than a community cycling event, it's a way of life, a celebration, and a movement fueled by the courage to end cancer, all cancers, for everyone. Unfortunately, we all know someone or love someone who has been affected or has lost their battle with cancer.

2016 was the first year I rode in Pedal the Cause. I signed up to ride 20 miles in memory and in honor of loved ones and friends who have either lost their battle with cancer or who were currently in the fight of their lives.

This year, I am volunteering in honor of my own fight with cancer, but also in honor of many of my family and friends who are currently fighting. I hope to raise over $500 this year, but I need your help.

Please read my story below and help by donating to this cause. It takes world-class research to create a world without cancer, and Pedal the Cause is the only event that gives 100% of participant donations to Siteman Cancer Center and St. Louis Children's Hospital to advance cancer research. Together, we can create a world without cancer.

MY STORY

At the beginning of February 2023, what was thought to be a routine visit with Dr. Brandon Larkin, nonsurgical sports medicine physician at Advanced Bone & Joint, for my knee pain, soon turned my world upside down.

Routine x-rays of both knees showed what was thought to be an enchondroma in my left leg tibia, but after further analysis and wanting to confirm his diagnosis, Dr. Larkin sent me for an MRI. I received a phone call from Dr. Larkin just a few days later saying that the MRI did not confirm it was an enchondroma, but something more and that he was going to refer me to Siteman.     Siteman.     That is all I needed to know. About a week later, I met with Dr. Regis O’Keefe, a Washington University Orthopaedic Surgery physician, who called for a biopsy of the suspicious mass. Two days later, the suspicious mass proved to be a rare bone cancer called adamantinoma. Dr. O’Keefe referred me to Dr. David Brogan, also a Washington University Orthopaedic Surgery physician, and additionally called for me to have a CT scan since the next place an adamantinoma attacks is the lungs.

The morning of a late March 2023 Monday, I received a phone call from Dr. O’Keefe’s office letting me know that the CT scan showed a mass in my right kidney; not related to my bone cancer. 

That afternoon I was to see Dr. Sam Bhayani, a Center for Advanced Medicine – Washington University Urology physician. The group of physicians, Drs. O'Keefe, Brogan, and Bhayani, had discussed my case at length over the weekend to come up with the best plan since both cancers needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. They decided it would be best to remove my kidney first and then proceed with my bone cancer surgery after I had several weeks to recover from my nephrectomy.

Days before my nephrectomy, I went for a vascular test with Dr. Patrick Geraghty, a vascular surgeon with Washington University Medicine, who would be performing a vascular procedure to harvest a blood source from one of the main arteries in my right leg during my bone cancer surgery.

On April 14, 2023, I underwent a nephrectomy of my right kidney. All went well and I recovered nicely.

Three weeks later, on May 11, 2023, I underwent a 12-hour major surgery to remove the portion of my left leg tibia that had the adamantinoma and replaced the removed tibia portion with a section of my right leg fibula. Hardware that included a plate and several screws were put in place to secure the newly placed fibula.

Eleven days later after my bone surgery, I was moved to Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital St. Louis where I spent 12 days rehabilitating; learning to live in my home and begin the process of making myself stronger so that when the time came, I could walk with a walker on non-weightbearing status.

On June 3rd, I was released from the rehabilitation hospital and I was finally able to return home.

After eight months of physical therapy and getting to the point where I could walk with a cane, it was discovered I had a fracture in my left leg tibia and I had also broken the hardware. Dr. Brogan put me back on non-weightbearing status in the hopes the fracture would have time to heal.

After a little over six months of waiting for the fracture to heal yet never did, Dr. Brogan referred me to a bone fracture specialist, Dr. Christopher McAndrew, a Washington University Orthopaedic Surgery physician. During the initial meeting with Dr. McAndrew, he discussed a couple of options with me: another surgery (and possibly another and another and another) or amputation.

The second option was shocking to say the least, and it was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. I owed it to myself  to see if having another surgery would be what was needed to get things moving in the direction.

About two months later on November 21, 2024, I underwent the second surgery with Dr. McAndrew. He took marrow from my left leg femur and used it to pack the fracture in my tibia and also used it in several areas around my fibula in hopes to promote healing and bone growth.

Six months later, we're achieving bone growth in key areas and the fracture is healing. I have been attending physical therapy since the beginning of the year and I am back to the point of walking with a cane that I am nearly ready to get rid of altogether.

It has been two extraordinarily long years and my journey is not over yet but I hope and pray it is getting closer to being over.

I could not have gotten through this time of my life without the love, care, support, and especially prayer from my amazing family and friends along with the exceptional care from my physicians, physical therapists, and psychologist. When you fight cancer, YOU DO NOT FIGHT ALONE. Everyone who loves and supports you fights with you and for you. You cannot do it alone.

I want to thank beyond measure my physicians who have gotten me through to this point so far. Dr. Larkin, you saved my life! Because you questioned your analysis of my x-rays, you uncovered my bone cancer which then led to uncovering my kidney cancer. Dr. Bhayani for ushering in an removing my kidney so that there was no chance my kidney cancer could spread. Drs. O'Keefe, Brogan, and Geraghty for removing my bone cancer altogether so that it would not spread and for essentially putting my leg back together and Dr. McAndrew whose expertise is leading to bone development and healing so that hopefully I can resume a normal lifestyle in the not too distant future. Thank you, too, to all of the medical assistants, RNs and BNAs who have taken care of me at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

I also cannot thank enough my physical therapists from Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital, Tori, Occupational Therapist (you got me through this unexpected part of my recovery), Rachel, Physical Therapist, and Jennifer, Physical Therapist, who stepped in from time-to-time to assist and cheer me on, and to Michael who was the best medial aide I could ever ask for! Thank you to all of my home therapists and nurses from Mercy who cared for me and who helped me get better acclimated in my home and started me on my way to extended physical therapy. Thank you to Christy, my first physical therapist outside my home after my first bone cancer surgery, and for my current physical therapist, Alena (you are such a rockstar for me!), and the whole team, especially Liz, Nancy, and Jayden, at Excel Sports & Physical Therapy in Wentzville, for your exceptional work and outstanding care during my healing process. Because of you, I'm getting back to a normal life, something I didn't know, at times, if I would ever get back to. You are the best group of therapists and front office staff I have ever encountered.

I want to thank my therapist Jennifer from Concert Health (via Mercy). Without you, your guidance, and the skills you provided me, I don't know if I would have made it through all of this.

An incredible thank you to my place of employment, Cass Information Systems, Inc. and to my manager, Martin Resch, CEO, who has worked with me to work-from-home for most of these past two years. I thank you for the sense of relief and for your tremendous patience and understanding as I go through this process. To a enormous amount of people who prayed for me especially the Bible study group, the faith-based team, and so many of my co-worker friends and a huge thank you to Kevin Fisher who has been helping me with onsite tasks that I have not been able to do myself in person for the past two plus years. Kevin, you are an amazing individual and I cannot thank you enough for all of your support, assistance, prayer, and friendship that you have given me. You've kept me afloat at Cass and I am forever grateful.

Thank you to my daughter, Alyssa Hurst, my parents, Jeanette and Richard Hughes, my sisters, Julie Bauer and Jennifer Brooks, and their families, Marty Bauer, Steve, Ava, and Gavin Brooks, and to my son-in-law, Jake Hurst. Alyssa, my rock, caretaker, and giver. Thank you for being the voice for the family and keeping them informed and for caring and loving me the way you do. My life does not exist without you. To my entire family--- without your love, support, and prayers, I could not have done this. I love you all more than you can imagine.

To my husband, Jack. My partner in life, my friend, the love of my life, and the best caretaker I could have ever ask for. You have done more for me than I could have ever asked for or imagined. You cared for me and took care of me better than one should have had to as a spouse. I never needed anything because you always were ahead of the need. You worked with me, not against me, and you understood what I needed, when I needed it, and why I needed it. Thank you for your understanding, immense patience, which I know does not come easily for you, and for you unwavering love, attention, and focus. I know this has not been easy for either of us but your strength helped us both in such a tumultuous and uncertain time. I love you beyond measure. Your wife is on her way back!

And last but certainly not least, I thank God. I know You are taking me on this journey for a reason. It is Your plan so I do not question it. It is Your will to be done. I know that I do not walk alone for You are always by my side, and as scripture says, You have carried me when I needed to be carried.

To all of the above mentioned, I am forever grateful to and for you and I appreciate you immensely.

I have ridden in and supported Pedal the Cause for several years and although the past few years and this year too (and maybe more) are the exception, I want to do my part so I have signed up, along with my daughter, Alyssa Hurst, to volunteer the entire Pedal weekend. I not only do this for myself, but I also do this for so many others I know and love who are currently fighting the fight or who have fought.

Pedal the Cause is hope, community and the region’s most impactful movement to end cancer. I am proud to participate and to play a part in funding groundbreaking research at our local, top-ranked institutions that is changing the way we treat and cure cancers.

Pedal the Cause is the premier cycling experience in the region and the driving force behind creating a world without cancer. Pedal the Cause is the only St. Louis event that gives 100% of participant-raised donations to Siteman Cancer Center and Siteman Kids at St. Louis Children’s Hospital to accelerate lifesaving cancer research. Since 2010, Pedal the Cause has donated more than $51 million for cancer research, funding 243 adult and pediatric research projects. Pedal the Cause is set to take place on September 20-21, 2025 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri.

Every penny of every dollar donated funds innovative cancer research at Siteman Cancer Center and Siteman Kids at St. Louis Children's Hospital, driving new treatments, clinical trials and discoveries that are improving patient outcomes. CLICK HERE to learn more about the impact of the over $51 million donated by Pedal the Cause since 2010.

Please support my efforts to create a world without cancer with a donation of any size to my fundraiser by clicking the DONATE button on my profile page. My fundraising deadline is October 30, 2025.

Thank you and God bless you!

Lisa