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Pompano Beach runner Davis takes fight against mesothelioma on the road
by: Craig Davis of the Sun Sentinel September 9th, 2010
Pompano Beach runner Larry Davis continues to set a relentless pace in his own battle with mesothelioma and mission to raise awareness and support for research into
finding a cure for the lethal cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.
Davis is helping with zMotion’s 9/11 Memorial Bike Ride on Saturday, which begins at 7 a.m. at the Cove in Deerfield Beach and goes to Lake Worth Inlet and back.
As Davis points out, the collapse of the World Trade Center increased the meso risk in New York. The buildings contained as much as 1,000 tons of asbestos. When the buildings fell, it was as if an asbestos bomb had exploded.
Lately, Davis has taken his crusade on the road. He joined “standing cyclist” Frank Cavaluzzi on the final leg of a recent ride from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of mesothelioma.
Cavaluzzi is known for cycling to publicize special causes, using a bicycle that has no seat and a fixed gear that does not allow him to coast. He decided to do the meso ride after meeting Davis’ daughter, Courtney, on a Stand Up For Cancer ride around Lake Champlain last year.
For more information about Cavaluzzi’s trip, visit actionagainstasbestos.com
Last weekend Davis, 65, and his wife, Carol, ran in the USA 20K Championship in New Haven, Conn., his hometown. Davis’ father was exposed to asbestos at a box manufacturing plant in New Haven and died at age 56 of mesothelioma.
Davis, who was diagnosed with meso several years ago, achieved his goal of finishing the 20K in less than 2 hours, clocking 1:54:22.
More important, he received a check for $1,000 from the Knights of Columbus for his South Florida Miles For Meso 8K to benefit the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. The 2011 Miles For Meso 8K Run and 4K Cancer Tribute Walk is scheduled for Feb. 13 at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton.
Mesothelioma is the cancer that killed singer Warren Zevon, actor Steve McQueen and recently NFL Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen. But those are just a few of the big names; it’s impacting families across the country.
The cause is gaining impetus with the running community in South Florida. Some of the proceeds from last weekend’s King of the Hill Challenge 5K at Vista View Park were earmarked for the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation.
Cyclist Arrives In D.C.
Wednesday September 1, 2010
Cyclist Frank Cavaluzzi has arrived in Washington, D.C.
Celebratory Cupcakes For The Champions of Meso
The 42-year-old “standing cyclist” and promoter of special causes arrived in the Georgetown section of the nation’s capital on schedule late Tuesday morning.
It capped a trip of more than 300 miles that began a week ago today at the Marina at McKees Point in McKeesport. The aim was to raise awareness of the rare lung cancer mesothelioma.
Cavaluzzi suffered from an allergic asthma that forced him off bicycles for a time.
“I started riding standing up to open my diaphragm up,” Cavaluzzi said as he started his trek after breakfast Aug. 25 at McKees Cafe. “I started doing it for health. I use this to draw attention for special causes.”
He utilized a bicycle without a seat or gears, forcing him to continually stand and pedal.
“My body is adapted to it,” said Cavaluzzi, a project leader and trainer when he isn’t on the road. “I can’t coast. When it moves, I move. So it’s a little bit like running.”
His trip covered the Great Allegheny Passage in Pennsylvania and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath trail in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Thank You Frank
Finish Line
‘Standing Cyclist’ Continues Journey From McKeesport to DC
All The Way To Adelaide
Forty-eight hours after he set out from McKees Cafe at the Marina at McKees Point, Frank Cavaluzzi passed through Meyersdale, Somerset County. He crossed the Mason-Dixon line early Friday afternoon, arriving in Frostburg, Md., around 1:30.
Cavaluzzi, 42, from the Milford area in Northeast Pennsylvania, is aiming to arrive in the nation’s capital on Tuesday. Part of his gear for his McKeesport-to-Washington, D.C., bike ride is a Global Positioning System device.
It is allowing supporters to track what now is the fourth day of a trek by the self-styled “standing cyclist” to raise awareness of mesothelioma.
“So far he reports his legs are holding up,” bloggers reported after the first day of his trip on the actionagainstasbestos.com website. “As he stands up to ride he stands up for our cause.”
Cavaluzzi uses a bicycle that has no seat and a fixed gear that does not allow him to coast. His plan is to try to cycle 50 miles a day.
Day one ended after 45 miles as inclement weather set in.
Day two ended southeast of New Centerville, from which he set out Friday at 6:36 a.m.
Cavaluzzi is cycling on behalf of Duquesne University alumnus Larry Davis of Pompano Beach, Fla., who suffers from mesothelioma, a cancer believed to develop in the long run after exposure to asbestos.
Cavaluzzi started cycling for special causes after a bout with allergic asthma six years ago. Last year he cycled around Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York for Stand Up For Cancer and met Davis during that trip.
Joyce MacGregor, secretary of the McKeesport Trail Commission, and her husband Robert met Cavaluzzi before his departure from McKees Point.
“It was such a coincidence,” MacGregor e-mailed to Davis, “as the old ‘Tech High’ (more recently Cornell Intermediate School) in McKeesport is being demolished very soon, but before they do, they have to remove the asbestos!”
One of the better-known victims of mesothelioma reportedly was the late actor and football star Merlin Olsen.
According to published accounts, Olsen, known more recently for such TV shows as “Little House on the Prairie” and “Father Murphy,” was diagnosed with mesothelioma a year ago and died in March at age 69.
Action Against Asbestos 