Leanna Pugliese is photographed as she makes her way cross country with a team Bike the U.S. for MS cyclists.
Bike the US for MS team members
A cross country bicycle tour to raise awareness, collect donations and engage in service projects to support for people affected by multiple sclerosis is more than halfway complete.
Leanna Pugliese, a University of Arizona alumna, is one of 12 bicyclists who will end their two-month coast-to-coast tour on Aug 4. She is traveling from Virginia to Oregon at a rate of more than 60 miles a day.
Bike the US for MS is a cross country bike tour dedicated to funding multiple sclerosis research and supporting the MS community.
Participants coordinated service projects and volunteer with local multiple sclerosis organizations as they ride across the United States in an effort to draw awareness of the disease and to collect donations to help find a cure.
So far the cyclists have raised $16,245 for MS research.
Donations will support research efforts conducted at The Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center, located at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass.
According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, in the United States today there are approximately 400,000 people with multiple sclerosis – with 200 more people diagnosed every week. Worldwide, MS affects more than 2.5 million people. Symptoms include fatigue, numbness, dizziness as well as walking, balance and coordination problems.
Pugliese graduated from the UA with a bachelor of science in 2002 and a doctor of pharmacy in May of 2006.
While at the UA she discovered a love of biking while commuting to and from campus. Pugliese is a clinical pharmacist and currently lives in Tacoma, Wash., where she is on leave from Tacoma General Hospital so that she can participate in the tour.
Her interest in the issue stems from her background in patient care working with children battling cancer. In addition she has been influenced by her boyfriend, whose best friend's mother has MS.
He participated in the tour two years ago and Pugliese knew she couldn't miss out on the opportunity "to get to know the heart of America and meet such wonderful people."
Pugliese said her favorite service activity along the route involved a skit the team put together performed for a boy with MS in Kansas.
"The local MS society told us he was very into wrestling so two of the cyclist dressed up as The MS Avenger and The Dismantler, wrestlers in the battle against MS. He loved it and we presented him with a wrestling championship belt at the end of the skit," Pugliese said.
"She has seen people survive or lose battles with life threatening diseases. She focuses her work on kids and she is my hero. I lose my breath when I think of all she has accomplished and does for others," said Debbie Campbell Tamayo, Pugliese's mother and an employee at the UA with the James E. Rogers College of Law.
Tamayo tried to talk her daughter out of the 3,981 mile tour, which has taken the team through some extreme weather.
Nonetheless, the cyclists are still on track to end the tour on Aug. 4 in Florence, Ore., but they are so inspired they may take it further north into Washington.
"The ride has been everything I imagined and more" Pugliese said. "We seen every type of weather imaginable – hail, rain, heat waves and wind – so strong it knocks you off your bike. We have survived everything and now we are thinking of expanding the tour to end in Seattle."
Those interested donating or following the cyclists can visit the Bike the US for MS Web Site.