Bikers ride for a cancer cure in annual Pamlico Relay for Life fundraiser

STONEWALL — Doug Carey gets emotional when he talks about cancer. He is a survivor.

He is also one of the co-chairs for the annual Pamlico County Relay for Life Friday and Saturday at the county high school in Bayboro.

Fundraising for research, he said, goes on year-round by the two-dozen or so teams and more than 600 participants.

On April 16, more than 60 motorcyclists came to the Stonewall United Methodist Church for the fifth annual bike ride for cancer. The bikers, with 87 total riders, toured the county on two wheels during the morning, hours ahead of the storms that rolled through the coastal area.

The weather kept the numbers to about half of what Carey had hoped, but the ride still produced more than $2,200.

A source of joy for Carey is his grandson, Reid, who will be 2 in September.

“For me, the goal from day one with this Relay for Life is to make sure that someday no kid will know anything about cancer unless they read it in a history book,” he said. “That is my biggest push, to make sure these kids don’t have to fight the fight that some of us have fought.”

Carey sometimes is brought to tears when he talks about cancer.

His voice quivered as he addressed the participants, especially when 12-year-old Zack Mayo arrived in a wheel chair. Onlookers applauded the youngster, whose close call with death is documented by his mother Wendy on You-Tube with “Zack Mayo’s Journey.”

He and his parents and brother live in Wilmington, but there are family roots in Pamlico County.

Following fifth-grade graduation last year, the always active youngster suffered a fall on his scooter. He went into cardiac arrest and was revived after 12 minutes of resuscitation by emergency workers.

The fall had ruptured a tumor in his abdomen.

The Mayo family was told he might be brain dead and that he might not live through the night. His mother documented the months that followed, hospital stays in Chapel Hill and Cincinnati. He spent 24 days on a ventilator, 10 days in a coma and had eight surgeries.

As they left on April 16, bikers rode underneath a large survivors’ wreath that spanned the side road beside the church. They took a left on N.C. 55 and rumbled into the distance.

When they returned, door prizes were awarded, all through donations that Carey said were made possible by Pamlico Parts, Forrest Home Supply, Lupton Electronics, Shop Quick, New Bern Harley Davidson and Hometown Harley of Greenville.

“We couldn’t do this ride or other events without the community support from our businesses,” he said.

The Stonewall ride was begun five years ago by the Rev. Richard Baldwin for Carey, who battled stage 3 colon cancer.

“I talked to some of my bike friends and then other friends jumped in,” Carey said.

The fundraising events that are held throughout the year include yard sales, pancake dinners, oyster roasts and any other event volunteers can think of to raise a few dollars.

“Cancer never sleeps,” Carey said. “So we fight cancer year-round and we Relay year-round.”

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or chall@freedomenc.com