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Oswald is currently on her second round of chemotherapy following radiation treatment for squamous cell carcinoma, a cancer that can occur in many different organs.
A teacher associate at Washington Township Elementary School for 21 years, Oswald said the cancer began in her shoulder and was diagnosed in December of 2008.
"Taking it one day at a time," Oswald said she had two more sessions in this second round of chemotherapy and then a CAT scan "to see where we are."
Through the research that the annual bike ride helps fund, said Jackie, someday cures like Oswald's will be found.
This year's "Amish Harvest-Tour to Cure Cancer" ride starts and ends at the Iowa Mennonite School Saturday, Sept. 26, where the Baileys' son played basketball as a student. In November of 1995, the 17-year-old Seth was diagnosed with cancer after a sore leg turned out to be a soft-tissue cancer.
Three months after an amputation, Seth was skiing with a preliminary peg leg in Colorado. He returned to school and played basketball with a prosthesis.
While in college, Seth took a course in "total immersion" swimming in Chicago. He began by swimming in circles with one leg, but soon was beating the other swimmers who had both legs.
He went on to become a member of the Paralympics swim team where he met his future fiancé, Sarah Arens, at an Olympic training center in Colorado Springs. He died at age 25 in 2003. Arens helped with organizing the now annual biking event.
In 2007, Bicyclists of Iowa combined its fall ride with the Baileys'. Hills Bank has been the flagship sponsor since its creation.
Registration for the ride is from 6 to 10 a.m. the day of the ride, with breakfast from 6 to 11 a.m. One hundred-mile riders leave at 7 a.m. The 60, 40 and 20-mile riders begin leaving at 8 a.m. there will be live music all day at the Iowa Mennonite School. For more information, go to courageride.org/index.php.
