GREENFIELD — In the summer of 2014, Jim Bassett of Greenfield and his wife, Cheryl, received the news no one wants to here: Cheryl had developed cancer in the lymph nodes in her chest, and it had spread to her brain.
She spent three weeks undergoing whole-brain radiation to try to eliminate the cancer there before her oncology team began focusing on the cancer in her chest, using chemotherapy to try to control it. They thought they’d managed to keep it in check, but an MRI five months later showed the spots on her brain had returned and had begun reproducing there. Treatment was stopped, and in June 2015, she lost her battle with the disease.
“I didn’t know what to do with myself,” Bassett said. “We were together 39 years. You have this loss you just can’t explain.”
What he did know was that he couldn’t sit at home and do nothing. So, he decided to become a volunteer for Wheeling For Healing, Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s annual fundraiser for its oncology department. Through his job coordinating the printing of materials and pamphlets at the hospital, he helped design and produce promotional materials.
This year, the ninth annual event will be held Aug. 21 at Greenfield Community College.
“I saw how they treated her, and how they help the patients here,” Bassett said of the oncology department, noting how the staff at times stayed past closing to help Cheryl endure the side effects of her treatment. “If she was sick, they’d say ‘Bring her right over.’ I knew I wanted to do something for oncology.”
He organized a team in memory of his late wife, which raised more than $5,000 last year — 10 times his initial goal.
The event features three different rides — a local 10-mile route through the Greenfield meadows, a moderate 25-mile ride through Bernardston, Gill, and the Turners Falls and Greenfield bike trails and a challenging 50-mile route that goes up into the hills of Warwick and Wendell.
The rides start and end at Greenfield Community College, and the registration fee is $40 for cyclists, $30 for walkers/runners and free for children age 12 and under. It includes morning snacks and a picnic lunch, catered by Greenfield Community College.
Proceeds from previous Wheeling for Healing events have been used to purchase medical equipment and comfort items for patients undergoing chemotherapy at Baystate Franklin and have also gone to assist patients with extraordinary expenses associated with their illness, including medicines not covered by their insurance.
Last year, nearly 200 participants helped raise more than $40,000. That money helped with the purchase of new exam tables for the hospital’s oncology department. The new tables are controlled by an electronic foot pedal, allowing them to be lowered so patients can get on them more easily. They are also softer and wider for patients’ comfort.
“I never thought I could make that difference. We’re up to $1,300 right now and we just started,” Bassett said of this year’s event. “People can make a huge difference, even if they don’t think they can. It’s a beautiful experience.”
For more information or to register for or sponsor Wheeling for Healing, visit: baystatehealth.org/wheelingforhealing or call Baystate Health Foundation at 413-794- 4288.
You can reach Tom Relihan at: 413-772-0261 ext 264, or: trelihan@recorder.com
On Twitter: @RecorderTom