Tour honors cancer victims, looks for cure

Mon June 20 2005
Posted Jun 20, 2005
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Organizers of a bicycle ride through the Amish countryside aim to raise $25,000 Saturday for cancer research and to honor the fighting spirit of a local man who lost an eight-year battle with the disease. Hills Bank and Trust Co. and friends and family of Seth Bailey will host the first "Tour to Cure" bicycle ride this weekend. The goal of the event is to raise money for the Seth A. Bailey Sarcoma Cancer Fund, which will provide a grant for sarcoma cancer research. "The bike ride is our way of helping others that may be going through this, and hopefully we'll find treatment that is more effective in the fight against sarcoma," said Tom Bailey, Seth's father. "It's also a way of honoring Seth, his memory and the fight that he waged against it." Seth Bailey died in October 2003 at his Riverside home, after an eight-year battle with soft-tissue synovial sarcoma. The rare cancer attacks the body's muscles, tendons, blood vessels, nerves and, in Bailey's case, the tissues around his joints. He was 25. The Bailey family opened a charitable-giving fund with the Community Foundation of Johnson County in April to assist with resource development for Saturday's event. Contributions already have been made by various local businesses. The bike ride begins at 5 p.m. and includes the choice of two loops, an 18-mile or 28-mile ride, both chosen by the Bicyclists of Iowa City to appeal to cyclists of all levels. Riders must wear helmets while they travel single file along Sharon Center Road through Frytown and back to Hills City Park along Bayertown Road. Festivities at City Park will include live music by Karla Miller, Big Wooden Radio and Hairline Fracture. A raffle will include several $100 gift certificates from local businesses, including Running Wild, The Siren and the Alexis Park Inn. The raffle also includes a Trek bicycle worth $400 donated by Freedom Security Bank. Jackie Bailey, Seth's mother, said although sarcoma cancer was rare, the disease has touched other families in the Johnson County area, so the bike ride also supports those families. She said Nick Peck, a Wellman native, died from osteo sarcoma at age 22 in May 2003. Like Bailey, Peck was described as a determined young man. He was studying accounting at the University of Iowa and often spoke with young cancer patients and tried to help them. "It's given us a purpose, and it's made us feel like Seth didn't suffer and die in vain," Jackie Bailey said about the fund-raiser. "We hope it will help prevent someone else from going through what he went through." Seth Bailey was described as a soft-spoken athlete and optimist. He completed an internship at the U.S. Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, Colo., in the summer of 2002, studied communications at Iowa State University and was training to make the Paralympics Games in swimming. "Seth was very, very modest and would not want a lot of attention, but he would have loved the energy of this and the live music and really bonding with the community for such a great cause," said Sarah Arens, Bailey's former fiancee. More than 300 riders and non-riders are expected to attend the event, Tom Bailey said. Reach Deidre Bello at 339-7360 or dbello@press-citizen.com.