It was a new peloton called Team Buckeye – Team Brutus, and some of the riders therein, including captain and cancer survivor Jeremy Hitchens, have formerly played the part of Brutus Buckeye, the famed mascot of The Ohio State University.
“We like to joke around that we’re the most spirited team in Pelotonia,” says Hitchens, 27, a native of Tipp City, Ohio, who adds that this fun-loving peloton also contains family members and friends of those boisterous biking Brutuses.
Other members include Hitchens’ girlfriend Lexi Fye, a former Ohio State cheerleader who met him when they both were on the squad (she was a virtual rider); his dad John, an airline pilot; and his friend Gabe Gemberling, also a former Brutus Buckeye who has survived cancer.
Hitchens admits that the team’s Brutus bunch may have had an advantage when cycling in the August heat, having romped around in a hot costume for long periods during warm early-season football games in Ohio Stadium and elsewhere. The secret to getting by, he says, was to stay hydrated, much the same as Pelotonia riders must do.
For Hitchens, who graduated from Ohio State in 2015 with a degree in marketing, the Pelotonia 2019 ride — his first — was a personal milestone since it took place just three days after he had completed his most recent chemotherapy regimen on July 31.
Despite undergoing treatment, he had been training for his 100-mile ride with friends by cycling 20 miles per day, five days a week.
Hitchens’ cancer journey began in August 2018, when he was diagnosed at the OSUCCC – James with rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of soft-tissue sarcoma made up of cells that normally develop into skeletal muscle. His tumor was on a muscle in his lower abdominal region and abutted his spine.
His diagnosis was followed by six rounds of chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiation therapy prior to his March 5, 2019, surgery to remove a tumor the size of a large grapefruit. Some three weeks later, he began his postsurgical chemotherapy.
Interestingly, he says, his diagnosis came just four months after his friend Gabe Gemberling’s May 2018 diagnosis with osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Gemberling, who was still on the Brutus squad at the time, also was treated at the OSUCCC – James.
So was 2018 a purely bad year for these Brutus alums?
“I don’t necessarily look at it as bad, and I know Gabe feels similarly,” says Hitchens, who thinks his faith in God and his upbeat attitude have served him well. “We believe we were given this because we’re strong enough to go through it. I feel like God prepares you for certain things and doesn’t give you anything too big to handle.”
He says his faith also has kept him calm. “This entire time I’ve never felt like I was scared. Everyone expects me to be negative or down, but I’ve never been that. My dad and I like to talk about facing this with joy and happiness instead of fear and doubt.”
Hitchens also attributes his success so far to the support of his friends and family (including his mother, Crystal Hitchens) and to his “amazing medical team at The James.” He specifically mentioned his surgeon Valerie Grignol, MD, his oncologist David Liebner, MD, his radiologist Meng Welliver, MD, PhD, and OSUCCC director Raphael Pollock, MD, PhD, who leads the sarcoma team.
“After working for a couple of years as Brutus on the Buckeye Cruise for Cancer (an annual Caribbean fundraiser for cancer research at Ohio State), I decided that if I ever had cancer, I’d be treated at The James,” he says. “They have outstanding doctors and nurses and other caregivers who were all great to me even before I was a patient. The James has always been near and dear to my heart, and I want to give back.”
Hitchens is also glad for a chance to say these things. “As Brutus, we’re never allowed to speak,” he grins. “But I’m speaking now.”