October 29, 2007 – Many of us know riders who were able to survive a crash because they received a blood transfusion. Maybe that rider is you. If so, LifeSouth Community Blood Centers may have a life-saving opportunity for you.

Every two years, LifeSouth, which is based in Gainesville, Fla. and operates community blood banks in Florida, Alabama and Georgia, sponsors the Five Points of Life Ride, a cross-country bike ride that promotes five different forms of life-saving donations: blood, apheresis, marrow, cord blood, and organ and tissue.

LifeSouth is looking for 12 riders — strong riders capable of pedaling 15 mph for nearly 3,000 miles — who have some personal connection to one of those five points.

The 2008 ride will leave Calgary, Alberta, Canada in late summer and arrive nearly seven weeks later in Mobile, Ala. It’s not a race. It’s not a fund-raiser. It’s an awareness raiser. At each stop along the way the riders share their personal stories. This will be the seventh edition of the ride, and each ride has followed a different route. In the past the riders have included:

– A police officer who survived a crash after receiving more than 100 units of blood.
– A parent whose child died while on an organ donor waiting list.
– A bone marrow donor who helped a young man survive leukemia.
– A parent who touched nearly 60 lives by donating the organs of her teen-age son when he was killed in a car crash.
– A rider who’d received a heart transplant and another who’d received a liver.
– And many riders who’d never needed blood but had a long history as donors.

The riders agree to volunteer seven weeks of their lives, to share their stories, and are encouraged to raise funds to help cover their expenses. In return they’ll get a bike, bike clothing, meals and lodging, airfare to the start and home from the finish, and a fully-supported ride of a lifetime that has the potential to save thousands of lives. If this sounds like something for you, or somebody you know go to www.fivepointsoflife.org for an application and more information or contact Mary Kate Flynn at mkflynn@lifesouth.org