Stroke Across America -Portland Bicycling Club

Stroke Across America

PBC is pleased to ally with Stroke Onward and the Stroke Across America ride to raise awareness for stroke, aphasia and brain injuries. Stroke survivor Debra Meyerson and husband Steve Zuckerman will be riding with a small team of others from Astoria to Boston this summer.

There will be several opportunities for PBC members to participate with them. We hope to have Steve join our April or May club meeting via Zoom to share about their upcoming adventure. There will also be a kickoff celebration Wednesday, May 18, early evening. PBC members are welcome to attend. Finally, we will schedule a club ride on Saturday, May 21 to accompany them on their way out of the metro area. Keep your eye on the ride calendar for these events. 

In 2009, Debra Meyerson was a tenured professor at Stanford University, a happily married mother of three almost-grown kids with a healthy, athletic lifestyle. Then a debilitating stroke left her paralyzed on her right side and maybe worse, without the foundation for so much of her life – her speech. She pursued every avenue of therapy possible, determined to return to life as she knew it. But with significant ongoing communication challenges from aphasia, she was unable to return to her job as a professor. For five years, with the help of her family and others, Debra wrote Identity Theft: Rediscovering Ourselves After Stroke (2019). In doing so, she and her husband Steve Zuckerman identified a gap in the stroke care system: support for the emotional journey in recovery and rebuilding identities in the face of disabilities. After the success of Identity Theft, Debra and Steve cofounded Stroke Onward, a nonprofit now shining a spotlight on the emotional journey in recovery, the importance of rebuilding identity, creating resources that support survivors and their families, and working to change the system to incorporate this critical support.

Cycling has been a part of Debra and Steve’s lives both individually and as a family since they met in graduate school, so it’s not surprising that cycling has played heavily in Debra’s recovery and their life as a couple since the stroke. Riding a tandem has empowered them to keep fitness in their lives and to continue enjoying athletic adventures together and with friends as they had before. They are now using their love of the long, open road to raise awareness about stroke, aphasia, and the need to support the emotional and identity journey in recovery from trauma like stroke.

Debra and Steve will be riding their tandem bicycle across the country from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Their Goldendoodle, Rusti, will be tagging along – in a trailer behind the bike or in the SAG van. Also joining them are Whitney Hardy, 34, survivor of a traumatic brain injury six years ago that left her with cognitive disabilities she continues to battle; and Joe Golden, 72, who rode cross country twice in his early 60’s before suffering a severe stroke at 65.

For more information, visit Stroke Across America.

Todd McCollum, Road Captain