With a heavy heart, I (Marshall Brown) write this to help a beautiful person raise funds for her upcoming treatments and loss of wages. SueMay also known as the Legend and DirtSnaks in the mountain bike community is a mother, grandmother an advocate and volunteer for mountain biking. She has been a loyal and loving coach for the Cape Fear Fins Composite Team (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) for seven seasons. She has helped fund raise for many people with various health issues and tries to build people up instead of knocking them down.
Other than what has been going on recently, she has always kept up with good health habits and rarely had any kind of sickness. She earned the nickname Crash because she was pushing her limits on the bike riding with the guys. She then turned that around and became DirtSnaks as she was making more time throughout her days to get a mountain bike ride in whether it was a long or short ride. I believe the term DirtSnaks has a more playful sound to it.
How did I, Marshall, become part of this? SueMay had been a friend since 2011. We met at local mountain bike time trial races and seeing one another at other races. She was always friendly and competitive. In 2016 we rode bikes with 75 + people through the streets of Wilmington NC. Weeks later, a group of us went to an six hour race called Tree Shaker. SueMay and her teammate were second in their race and I was third in solo. That night she was warm in an RV and I was freezing in my tent. We still have fun talking about that. Since then, we have had many adventures. Lost, together on our mountain bikes, in the Highlands of West Virginia (glad someone redirected us) and in the Pisgah mountains (40 miles of gravel instead of trails). Watching her push her limits getting MTB air-time and rock gardens. The weekend before her surgery we were gifted a trip to Ashville and spent time at Berm Peak Bike Park in Canton NC. She had so much fun on those trails.
Cancer doesn’t care that you are active or not. What was supposed to be a three hour surgery for the removal of a couple of benign tumors ended up being just over a five hour surgery and with the removal of other parts. They surgeons found abnormalities in four different areas. The cancer she has is called Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma and she will be finding out in the next few weeks when chemo starts.
I am her fiance and will be her main caretaker, supporter and cheerleader (in pants). You don’t realize how this affects you until you are part of it. Have had friends that dealt with cancer, truthfully really really didn’t understand it. Until we went to his home and saw him in bed. PMA, Positive Mental Attitude is the best way to go about it, but really the best way to live life.
On the bright side, our furry-family-member Finn has been protecting SueMay from all the boogies that are outside and her shadow in our home.
Thank you in advance for your support and love.