His latest venture, which he started along with Westport resident John Ragland, is the CT Challenge. On Saturday, July 25, as many as 500 cyclists from all over the state and beyond will gather to cycle to raise money for medical care for cancer survivors. The CT Challenge enables families and intermediate and serious cyclists to participate, with full support and designated routes of 12, 25, 50, 75 and 100 miles starting at the Greenfield Hill Church in Southport and stretching through some of Connecticut's prettiest roadways.
"There is something in it for everybody, said Ragland. "It is a well organized ride and a memorable and great experience."
The ride raises some serious money. Participants are asked to contribute $750 per rider, and according to Executive Director Bob Mazzone, many bring in twice that each year.
However, according to Ragland, with a nod to the current economic conditions, fundraising is not as difficult as people think. "We've made it easier than ever for people to raise money. With on-line fundraising, each participant can send out e-mails requesting donations and each one has a personal fundraising page. Donors go to your page and say how much they want to contribute via a credit card. It takes only a minute. This is indeed a commitment to cancer survivorship, but we make it as easy as possible."
The bike ride is the sole source of funding for a growing network of cancer survivor clinics throughout the state. The first clinic was started at Yale Medical Center in 2005, fulfilling the dream of Keith, who had conceived the idea after a trip to the Dana Farber Institute in Boston in 2004 where he received post cancer health care.
Upon his return, Keith decided that it would be wonderful if Connecticut residents had access to high quality health care dedicated to the needs of the cancer survivor. With more than 120,000 cancer survivors in the state, Keith knew that many of them would not have access to the quality health care they might be able to get in New York or Boston. He resolved to try to get a new cancer survivorship clinic to open at Yale and was successful in that endeavor, working with Westport resident and Yale physician Dr. Richard Edelson.
Once the Yale clinic was established, the vision grew, and the team decided to set up a network of survivor clinics throughout the state, to enable residents statewide who survived cancer to have access to clinics which provide expert care for cancer survivors, whose medical needs are quite different than those who are in the midst of battling the disease.
At this point, with more than $2 million dollars raised and five clinics in the state, the fund raising and the cycling continues so that more can be established.
Mazzone said, "Cancer survivorship is really a new area in cancer care. Most of the focus is on research and prevention. But there is a continuum. First there is the diagnosis, followed by the treatment. Both are horrible. No one really talks about your life after and the long term physical and emotional impact because there is so much focus on just being alive. Now there are so many survivors, many of whom have gone through hell and back, and their trauma may be minimized. Many survivors don't want to complain, but there are very real medical, physical and psychosocial issues left to face. That is why setting up cancer survival clinics can be extremely helpful."
For those who would like more information about CT Challenge, visit the website at www.ctchallenge.org.