Eight-year-old Savanna James is surrounded by love — and by some very rugged bicyclists. Among them: Her grandmother, Kyle James, of Concord, Mass.
“She is now three years cancer-free, and so that’s who we’re riding for,” Kyle said in an interview Sunday after finishing the 190-mile Pan Mass Challenge fundraising ride.
Kyle captains the Team Savanna’s Smiles, a group this year of eight riders. Various incarnations of the team have hit the road each August for the last four years.
Savanna, from Burlington, Mass., was just four when she was diagnosed with a Ewing’s sarcoma tumor next to her brain that required surgeons to remove part of her skull to treat.
Her dad, Dylan James, joined Team Savanna’s Smiles for the first time this year and just completed his first Pan Mass ride Sunday morning.
“She’s made it through her treatments, and this was the first year I felt I could be away long enough with confidence that we could be here and be part of the team,” Dylan said.
Like so many riders, Dylan was stunned by the impact of the outpouring of support he got from spectators along the whole Sturbridge-to-Provincetown route.
“It’s actually quite emotional to see all the people who come out and give all their support. I didn’t expect that at all. It was very, very special,” he said.
Kyle James agreed that “It’s just awesome, the support along the route from people who are getting up at five in the morning to be there. Those people really need to be thanked and appreciated for all they do to come out and to cheer.”
Besides Savanna’s grandmother, father, and aunt, five friends of her grandmother’s — including two who came all the way from Bermuda — suited up for the team ride this year. Asked how it felt to have so many people riding in her honor, Savanna said, “It’s good. It’s fun. I like it.”
Besides all the riders, her three James cousins and her great-grandparents and several other family members and friends joined the group cheering members of Team Savanna Smiles in Provincetown.
The family finish in Provincetown is a special alternative to the main finish line. While at the main finish the press is to get cyclists through and off the road, at the family finish, there’s enough time for riders to get a hug and a kiss from their family members after they finish 190 hard miles of riding across the Bay State.
First-time rider Tim Carty of Charlton, Mass., was greeted at the finish by his wife, Kathy, and two sons, who had managed to drive to almost every water stop and cheer him on before also meeting him at the finish line.
“The best surprise was that it was easier than I thought it was going to be,” said Tim, who woke up many days at 5 a.m. to go for training rides. He said he will definitely be back another year to ride again.
Team Savanna’s Smiles will also be back — and as they celebrate her third year of good health, they are already thinking of others. This year the James family’s group rode in support of Matty, a five-year-old family friend who on the same day they were riding was recovering from a bone-marrow transplant at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Said Dylan James, Savanna’s father, “It’s very personal and very emotional for a lot of the riders. You have to ride. You have to give back. You have to be part of it.”
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