About Lea's Foundation

In 1998, Lea Michele Economos, a young woman who died of leukemia at the age of 28, made a dying wish to her parents that others would not face the hardships she encountered by finding a cure for this disease. Her family started this charity to carry on that wish. Today, Lea’s Foundation takes an active role in finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and myeloma and to better the lives of people living with these diseases. At the UCONN Health Center, the Lea’s Foundation Center for Hematologic Disorders sponsors research in this field. A new program covers the cost of bone-marrow testing to help recruit life-saving transplants for patients. Also, annual scholarships are given to children with leukemia who are planning to attend nursery school. For more information on other projects carried out by Lea’s Foundation, please visit their website at www.LeasFoundation.org.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Day 35: The Indy 500 (Brazil, IN to Richmond, IN - 123 miles)

Camping last night was, well, uncomfortable. Little did we know, our tent doubles as a hot box. In Nevada, camping was nice because the temperatures dropped into the 30s, which put our sleeping bags to good use. With the heat wave we've been experiencing since Utah, though, our sleeping bags are merely taking up valuable tent space (I'm sure you remember how spacious our tent is). We would've opened our tent screens, but we feared an unwelcome visit from the stray cat on patrol in the park. After a few restless hours of what can loosely be defined as sleep, our alarms went off and we arose to prepare for a big day through Indianapolis and toward the Ohio border. We had previously arranged for a place to stay with a Warm Showers host in Richmond, IN, so we both had some motivation to get to our destination to enjoy a welcome home.

Our riding was more of the same for the morning: riding along route 40 with lots of cornfields and farms. Once we approached Indianapolis, the traffic started to get a little hairy, but we made it through the city unscathed. Indy has a really nice, modern downtown area. Pat took our video commentary as we were riding through:


The rest of the day was hot, per usual, but we chipped away at the miles and made it to Richmond around 5:30. We stopped at a place called Lee's Famous Chicken, which actually had some really good chicken. They generously gave us a deal on our dinners- much appreciated. Their sweet tea was probably the best I've tasted, too.

Our Warm Showers hosts tonight are great. Kurt is an acupuncturist, and one of the things he talked about was how ice cold beverages are stressful for the body and can contribute to disease. I bet Lee's chicken doesn't help matters. He's also a big proponent of herbal medicine, which was really interesting to chat about. Amy, his wife, has made us feel very welcome in their home. They have two awesome dogs, too. Sorry, Bailey, but this lab is a pro at fetch.

We're planning out the rest of our route tonight, and it looks like we'll be arriving at the UConn Health Center next Thursday, July 25th. We're probably going to plan to ride in after 5:00 pm to accommodate work schedules. More details to follow as it gets closer.
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