Team Tony shifts gears for cancer fundraiser in Sarasota

Been-there, done-that really doesn't apply when it comes to cancer.

Take Sarasota's Tony McEachern, for instance. He was riding with a group of cyclists in Longboat Key on April 8, 2003 when he suffered a seizure. Six hours later, he was being told, at age 33, he had a cancerous tumor the size of his fist in his brain.

Although McEachern had moved to Longboat Key, "home" for him was still Pugwash, Nova Scotia.

For those who aren't familiar with Pugwash, it's a place that hosted the world's top scientists in 1957 to talk about their opposition to nuclear weapons. If this wasn't impressive enough, Pugwash also was home to James Dewar, who invented and named the Twinkie.

For this story, though, the significance of Pugwash was that it was little, less than 700 people at the time. Growing up, McEachern knew no one who had battled cancer. Zero.

"It would have been nice if I had someone who was like me," McEachern said, meaning a young guy battling cancer. "Who do I seek out."

Fortunately for McEachern, he was pointed in the right direction, even if he was told he had six months to two years to live. He immediately had the tumor cut out of his head, but it grew back in six months. He then found an experimental cancer treatment at Duke University and doctors "put a golf tee in my head."

Well, really more of a port into which they injected radioactive isotopes into the tumor, which died. Almost 15 years later, McEachern still is with us at 48, albeit without any peripheral vision to his left, and the outline of a golf tee still protruding from his skull.

It's easy, therefore, to see no one else can compare been-there, done-that notes with McEachern, who wondered how he could help other cancer "fighters" who were encountering the unknown. 

He came up with the Team Tony Cancer Foundation to raise funds for his own cancer fight at first, but soon was considering ways his nonprofit could benefit others.

The first decision he made was he wanted to help those fighting any and all forms of cancer. No being left out of the club because you are fighting bone cancer when the benefit it pointed toward skin cancer.

"I don't know what lung cancer feels like," he said. "But I do know what four years of chemo and radiation feels like."

In 2010 he started a race called Cycle of Life with the thought of raising money for his own fight, and eventually to provide funds to those fighting cancer or to those giving care to someone fighting cancer. The race was a two-day event, a 200-mile ride across Florida where entrants were bused to Fort Pierce for the start and eventually finished at Main Street at Lakewood Ranch.

It was a successful ride, providing more than $20,000 in gas cards, transportation and research assistance to those in the Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties areas, but the most entrants it ever attracted was 105. As the years passed, McEachern kept thinking of ways he could touch more cancer fighters.

The change arrives Oct. 7 when the first Gran Fondo Sarasota will be held at Nathan Benderson Park. The event, which features four cycling events (100 miles, 66 miles, 33 miles and 8 miles), already has attracted 300 entries. It allows less serious cyclists, who don't want to spend a night on the road, to help the cause.

Following the races, music, food trucks and family-friendly activities will be available at the Finish Line Party.

The events will have starting times ranging from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. with the 100-mile race going off first. Those who want fee or signup information can go to the website at teamtony.org.

The end goal is to touch more people. "I'm extremely excited about this race," said McEachern, who can only ride the back of a tandem bike these days. "We had exhausted what we could do. This is going to snowball."

Until this year, his nonprofit had a limit of $1,500 it would provide to a person fighting cancer. He hopes that amount can increase significantly. 

McEachern, who once owned Village Bikes in Sarasota and is well known to the cycling community in East County, became a full-time Team Tony Cancer Foundation employee on Jan.1 and on Nov. 1 he hopes to open a "cancer communications center," a nonclinical environment he calls a coffee shop for cancer patients, in Sarasota.

While no stories are quite the same, he hopes cancer fighters can share information and resources.

He said Team Tony currently is working with three lung cancer patients, three brain cancer patients and one esophageal cancer patient.

His nonprofit is made up primarily of volunteers who are cancer survivors so they can offer insight and inspiration as well as information as what to expect from the journey. They tried to make contact with cancer patients by working with hospitals and medical offices.

"People who are diagnosed with cancer what to keep it to themselves," said McEachern. "They don't want to share stuff. We try to get the doctor's permission to call them and I talk to people fresh out of surgery."

McEachern said Team Tony develops a survivor plan and talk about what comes next. He said funds primarily are used for prescriptions. "We did fly one woman to California (for treatment) seven times."

No medical advice is given.

Fortunately, he no longer needs a lot of medical advice. He has been NED (no evidence of disease) since 2007.

"I'm feeling really good actually," he said. "I'm in the middle of my dream and I never thought I could give back to the amount of people I was able to."