Charleston County, South Carolina — On Saturday, hundreds of cyclists will ride through the Lowcountry with one common goal: to discover a cure for cancer. The LOWVELO Ride is a family-friendly bike ride that benefits the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.
One of the riders who will participate on Saturday understands personally the significance of Hollings’ unique therapies and why the LOWVELO ride is so vital.
Sylvie Baele is an ardent cyclist. She is the executive director of Second Chance Bikes and lives to ride bikes. Her wheels have been a constant in her life, even at her lowest point.
“I received treatment from Hollings Cancer Center at MUSC for Leukemia, and I received like a new treatment that was still kind of in trials or wasn’t available at other hospitals,” Baele told me. “It absolutely saved my life. There weren’t many decent options if the treatment hadn’t been available.”
Baele says she feels better now that her leukemia has been treated.
“So I still take a prescription that prevents my gene from mutating,” Baele told me. “The treatment I was on first worked quite well and rapidly. I’d say that after three months, I felt almost normal in terms of my physical physique. So I consider myself very fortunate.
Baele claims that even during treatment, she rode her bike, which swiftly became a symbol of optimism for her and other patients.
“I would ride my bike to Hollings and I felt like that was good for other people there, patients there to see like, wow, like, there is hope, like maybe I can be more active than I am being right now,” Baele told me. “And I also felt like biking and just having like a good level of, of physical health was really important throughout treatment definitely helped mitigate a lot of side effects.”
After finishing therapy, Baele decided to give back and bike for a place that had given her another opportunity.
“If I’m gonna ride in any charity ride, it’s gonna be one that supports cancer research at the institution I went to,” Baele informed the crowd. “And bikes were really there for me throughout my whole treatment.”
This will be Baele’s second year riding in LOWVELO, and certainly not the last.
“It’s important because you are showing people that you care about people who have cancer and it might not directly affect you, but it almost always indirectly affects you or someone you love,” Baele told me. “And by doing LOWVELO, not only are you showing that you value that kind of life saving research, but you’re also taking the opportunity to be on bikes in Charleston and a place that has a lot of room to grow in terms of being bike friendly.”
For Baele, LOWVELO represents a complete circle moment in which she can do something she enjoys while also raising funds for cancer research to save lives like her own.
For additional information on LOWVELO, please go here.
Multiple roads will be closed during the LOWVELO ride. On October 30, Ocean Boulevard south and 14th Avenue going towards Pavillion Drive will be closed beginning at 5 a.m. and will run until midnight on November 2.
Additionally, no parking will be permitted on November 1 on Ocean Boulevard at 14th Avenue heading toward Pavilion Drive.
Law enforcement warns that this is a well-attended event with a lot of foot activity, so motorists should use caution when driving in the area.
The roads are expected to reopen by midnight on November 2.
