CLEVELAND — September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

What You Need To Know

  • September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and the Great Cycle Challenge is a national month-long cycling fundraiser

  • Locally, a team is riding to fundraise in honor of their late friend, who dedicated his life to raising money for cancer research, until he passed from the disease in 2022

  • While he was going through treatment, Strother biked hundreds of miles and raised more than $15,000 through the Great Cycle Challenge

  • Sean Strother's family and friends are continuing to participate in his honor, and the money they’ve raised is going directly to a local research lab at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital run by Dr. Alex Huang, a pediatric oncologist who was able to meet the team earlier this month

In Cleveland, some cyclists are honoring a man who dedicated his life to raising money for research, until he passed from the disease. 

Sean Strother, who died of a brain tumor in 2022, was part of the Great Cycle Challenge, a group of cyclists who fundraise for childhood cancer research.

“He said to me, ‘Ma, I don’t want a child to go through what I went through, and I’m going to do whatever I can, and pedal as far as I can, and raise as much money as I can, so that there will be treatment options for children,’” Janet Banks, Strother’s mom, said. 

Banks suffered an injury while biking a few years ago and has been scared to get back on one since. 

But after Strother died, Banks, like many of Strothers’ friends and family, felt she needed to carry on his legacy. 

“In our everyday actions, we think about Sean, and just like this bike challenge, we think about this is who Sean is, who he is,” Banks said. “This is who he was, and who he is.”

Banks said her son, a father to two daughters and two stepchildren and friend to many, was passionate about raising money for childhood cancer research. 

While he was going through treatment, Strother biked hundreds of miles and raised more than $15,000 through the Great Cycle Challenge.

Now, his friends and family are continuing to take part in his honor, and the money they’ve raised is going directly to a local research lab at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital run by Dr. Alex Huang, a pediatric oncologist who was able to meet the team earlier this month.

“It’s great to come out and support folks who are riding the bikes and raising money to help support this cause,” Huang said. “And it’s great to have this engagement with the community to know that we’re not battling and researching all the ideas alone, but we actually engaging in a team sport.”

Strother’s legacy is felt in more places than just the Great Cycle Challenge. 

He worked hard to make his way in the tech industry, so now, Banks is working to establish a scholarship fund in Strother’s name for local students interested in tech.

“That’s what we wanted to do, we wanted to honor his memory, we wanted to make sure that we are able to try to help meet the needs of economic development in our community, keep students here,” she said.

Banks said her son didn’t miss out on a chance to spend time with the people he loved.

He was a caring father, son and friend, who took his mom to lunch weekly, loved playing with his kids, and made a point to bring his friends together when he could. 

Banks has a binder with pictures of Sean and other memories from his life. 

On the cover, she printed out a quote from Maya Angelou that she said reminds her of who her son was. 

“So this quote is, and it should be, a guiding principle for all of us. It’s, ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you say, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ Sean made everybody feel so good. He made them feel special, and this is how we should live our life every day.”

The Great Cycle Challenge is a national fundraiser that runs the entire month of September. If you’d like to support the cause, you can do so here.