FIND A PATIENT
A Group of New Yorkers Lend Their Legs To Charity
12/19/2006
News
Fifteen cyclists set out on a five-day bicycle journey July 15 in Hartsdale, N.Y., with a destination of the Capitol and a determination to raise money and awareness for a friend and a cause.
Riders who made the 300-plus mile ride accomplished both goals: collecting more than $40,000 for the NTAF New York Spinal Cord Injury Fund in honor of Lorraine Valentini, and meeting with lobbyists and executives regarding the importance of stem cell research.
Lorraine Valentini, a retired high school English Literature teacher, volunteer firefighter and an accomplished cyclist, severely injured her spinal cord in a bicycling accident on Memorial Day 2005. The accident left the formerly active Lorraine paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe on her own.
Good friend Colleen Kelly established Team Lorraine—a network of friends, family and fellow cyclists to help raise money for Lorraine’s medical needs and also to help raise awareness about stem cell research and spinal cord injuries.
Team Lorraine, along with Greenburgh, N.Y., Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, stopped at the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Foundation in Short Hills, N.J., and the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore to speak with executives about stem cell
research before reaching the Capitol, the team's final stop.
"Visiting the Kennedy Krieger Institute was one of the most incredible experiences in my life," said Feiner, "It showed why funding for stem cell research is so important. Seeing disabled children and adults smile, observing their personal progress, watching them try to overcome the odds—is something I will never forget.
"It is important that we provide hope to people who have severe medical illnesses…important that we improve their quality of life.
"It’s important that people who are friends of the patients get involved."
