BALTIMORE, md. — 64-year-old Bob Falkenberg stopped at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore Tuesday afternoon on his 3,500 mile journey from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Jacksonville, Florida.
He's a 12-year leukemia and bone marrow transplant survivor. Every year he goes on a long fundraising ride for Be the Match, the registry that found him a bone marrow donor. Since he found a match, he was given a fighting chance and he wants to give others that same chance. He's riding to raise money and awareness to get more people signed up on the registry.
His first ride was just ten months after his bone marrow transplant and he's been doing a ride every year for the last ten years.
This ride will take 57 days to go 3,500 miles. He started in Minneapolis went to Boston and then headed down the East Coast to Florida. He's stopping at 25 transplant centers along the way. Tuesday morning, he went from Havre De Grace to Baltimore. Wednesday morning, he headed to Bethesda before continuing South.
To learn more about his ride, go to bethematch.org/tourdetc. WMAR-2 News Erin MacPherson met up with Falkenberg during his ride, before he got to Maryland. Check out that story here. https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/12-year-leukemia-survivor-needs-your-help-biking-through-maryland
You can register for Be the Match by going to my.bethematch.org/cure44or Text "CURE44" to 61474. It only takes two minutes of your time to fill out some information online then a swab kit will be sent to you in the mail, you send it back and you're all done. You'll be contacted if you're a match and most of the time to save someone's life it's just as easy as donating blood or plasma.
