Jamine Waggle, Cancer Survivor and I Ride for You participant, shares how Pelotonia and the I Ride for You program helped her find purpose in her cancer diagnosis. When I was diagnosed with cancer in October 2013, my life took a detour. I turned to my doctors and nurses at the OSUCCC – James to fight the cancer growing inside me. Throughout my treatment, I searched for an answer to why I was 33 years old and battling cancer. I wanted to find a purpose for my diagnosis, a reason that this was happening to me. It was then that I received a letter in the mail inviting me to join the I Ride for You program of Team Buckeye, Ohio State’s superpeloton (riding group) in Pelotonia – a grassroots bicycling event from which 100 percent of the proceeds benefit cancer research at the OSUCCC – James. I decided to participate in I Ride for You and was teamed with an Ohio State graduate student named Justine. She had committed to ride 180 miles in Pelotonia, and although we were strangers at first, she wanted to honor me with her ride. Because we were matched through the I Ride for You program, we began to talk over the phone and through email. Justine would come to visit during my treatments and we would talk about our mutual love for Ohio State Football, our favorite OSU memories and laugh about how two strangers came together because of their passion to fight cancer and love for life. We became a team. My family, friends and colleagues whole-heartedly supported me after I was diagnosed. The I Ride for You program offered a way that my support system across the country could boost the research that has helped save my life. Before long, the friendship that Justine and I forged became a team. Those who wanted to support me also helped her by donating in my honor and spreading the word. In just a couple of months, our team of two became a team of more than 30! Joining Team Buckeye through the I Ride for You program gave me the purpose I was searching for. The story of my cancer journey was making a difference and inspiring riders like Justine. I’m so grateful for the friendship I have found with her. I never could have imagined that answering YES to the I Ride for You program would have such a rich impact on my life at a time when I needed positivity the most. Join Team Buckeye and the I Ride for You program today.