Taylor Brooks Foundation and Vassago Cycles

So we are always busy and we’re constantly doing something. I’m not sure we have “free” time….as some might say. I have 5 sites that I maintain – one being Haven’s. But there are a few things we don’t usually discuss on here – which is our donations to causes. Working with bikes we donate many frames to many races across the USA. We donated a custom pink frame to the American Cancer Society and we also donated a frame to the Taylor Brooks Foundation. I wanted to share with you a bit of the story of The Life Bike.

Taylor Brooks Foundation

On Friday, July 13, 2007, 6 days before her 14th birthday, Taylor was diagnosed with Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor cancer. This is a very rare type of cancer and is usually found in boys so it is very unusual for it to happen to a girl. She had treatments that went 5 days in a row, each day was approximately 6 hours of intense chemotherapy. She did this every 3 weeks for 4 rounds – a total of 20 days of chemotherapy.

Taylor worked to support her treatment hospital through fund raising and patient parties as well as acting a a poster child for a blood drive during her treatment. Sadly Taylor lost her battle with cancer and won a place in heaven just after 3AM on April 1, 2008 while her parents held her with her sister by her side.

While we are unable to donate money to causes, we were able to donate something that raised money for the Taylor Brooks Foundation. In early 2008, we were contacted by Dirty Spokes Productions and asked if we'd donate a Vassago frame for a raffle for childhood cancer. IMMEDIATELY we said YES! Soon after we heard that one of the Vassago bike shops, Addictive Cycles, was also going to donate a Vassago frame. Well yesterday I received an email from Jeff Brooks, Taylor's father. Here it is:

Dear Dirty Spokes, Addictive Cycles and Vassago,

All of you may or may not remember me. My name is Jeff Brooks. I rode in the Conyers event to raise money for the foundation started in my daughter Taylor's honor. All of you were gracious and donated your time, support, money and frames for raffles. The day was a giant success!

The Taylor Brooks Foundation was the beneficiary of approximately $12,000 that day. In the first year of operation because of the help people and organizations like yourself have provided the foundation has;

- delivered new patient diagnosis kits to the AFLAC Children's Cancer centers at Egleston, Scottish and the bone marrow transplant area.
- delivered holiday gift bags to Scottish Rite on Mothers Day, Fathers Day, 4th of July
- Given a Christmas party at all of the facilities above.
- AND COMMITTED to Sponsor a new fellow from Emory University to work in the AFLAC Children's Cancer group for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

I found the email below tonight as I was catching up on personal messages. I think you all will be touched. I plan to contact Seth and Linda and help them get started with this incredible project.

I would like first THANK EACH OF YOU for the success and the seed that has been planted. I would also like to ask each of you for your ideas on how we could take this idea of the Owen's national?

WHAT IS THE OWEN'S PLAN?????

see.....below.........

The Life Bike - Vassago Cycles - Taylor Brooks Foundation

Below is an email from Seth and Linda Owen and their plan:

The Life Bike

Jeff,

My name is Seth Owen. My wife (Linda) and I are amateur cyclists. We have two children (Raegan 8 and Grant 5). I would like to take a moment to introduce myself and share with you a project I've started because of your family's story.

Along with 12 of my riding partners (Linda included), I entered the Dirty Spokes event in Conyers, GA. We had lots of friends and family out to support us. During our last transition, I told my wife she should enter the raffle for the Vassago frame. I didn't know anything about the foundation. I only knew that the $10 would benefit cancer research and heck we might win a frame. So she paid our $10. After the 6 hour event, we anxiously waited for the drawing.

The first name drawn was your name.
The second name drawn was your wife's.
The third name drawn was, you guessed it, my wife Linda.

I went home and read Taylor's story. To be perfectly honest with you, it made my heart ache and I cried. I pictured myself in your position and my own daughter's pictures on that web site and knew that we had to do something meaningful.

We thought we'd would sell the frame and donate the money to the Taylor Brooks Foundation but decided not to. We thought we could do more. So we talked about building the bike up with top of the line components, auction it on eBay and donate the sales price to the foundation but decided not to. We had to do more. With that said here's what we've done and are in the process of doing:

"The Life Bike" and it will go to every event we ride.

The objective is to keep the bike in constant motion for the duration of the race. After all, battle to cure cancer never ends.

Here's how it works:

We solicit donations from family and friends to sponsor the bike (not the rider) for a lap or the whole race (kind of like Walk America). If the lap is sponsored in memory of someone, that person's name gets painted on the bike. The first names on the bike are Taylor's and Linda's Mom.

We're focusing this as a sponsorship of the bike which represents the cause as opposed to sponsoring a person. The bike is black and white. Black is in memory of those we've lost and white represents life and hope.

We've not solicited any donations for parts or funding to build the bike. We're footing the bill for that. We are also not using donations for entry fees or any other race support. 100% of what we raise is to be donated.

The Bike: Vassago JabberWocky - Pearl White with black lettering

Wheel Set: Custom laced White Syncros DS28 rims laced to white Syncros FL hubs with 31 black spokes and one white spoke

Rims: White Rims signify the Circle of Life

Look for more info on the life bike coming soon here and on the Vassago web site!