This weekend, for the second time, I’m going to ride my bike 100 miles in the Tri-State Trek, a charity ride that raises funds and awareness for ALS research. My mom, Lisa Bannon, has done this ride 16 years in a row, and last year I decided that it was time to join her and the rest of Crush ALS/Team Bannon for the first time. The ride starts at the University of New Hampshire, and loops through Massachusetts and Maine.

My uncle Chuck Bannon died of ALS, an incurable degenerative disease that results in total paralysis, in 2009 at the age of 44. Since then, my family has been involved in raising money every year to support a leading research lab in Boston called ALS-TDI.

As a kid, I sold muffins at the local train station in NJ every year to donate to the lab. After participating in the Trek each summer as a volunteer, I decided to start a club in high school called Crush ALS to raise more funds.

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The trek is a critical fundraiser for ALS-TDI, the world’s largest research lab focused entirely on ALS. It’s also an opportunity for us to honor and support those still suffering with this terrible disease.

If you’d like to sponsor me, any donations are greatly appreciated.

There is a growing confidence among scientists researching new drug therapies that they are close to a breakthrough. By donating to this important cause, I believe you are helping to make a difference in our battle to cure this ALS.

Thank you, and never give up!