2 weeks!!!

Some of you know that for the past two years I have participated in a 7 day bicycle event, The National EMS Memorial Bike Ride, on the east coast. We ride to honor all of our fallen EMS brothers and sisters. We ride in their name, we ride to remember.

In 2009 I rode 650 miles on a bicycle in 7 days from New York City to Roanoke Virginia and then in 2010 I rode another 650 miles from Portland Maine to Washington DC to help raise money for the "Fallen Angel" Fund. When I first decided to do this ride in 2009, I hadn’t been on a bicycle in 20 years. I learned about this ride while attending the Ocean Shores EMS conference in 2009 while listening to Steve Berry, the PIO for the Muddy Angels and the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride talk about the ride and I was amazed at how only a handful of the 300+ participants even knew that we had a memorial or the existence of the ride.

This year I have decided to undertake the adventure again. This year the ride starts in Boston Massachusetts and ends in Washington DC. Along the way we make many stops at various Fire Stations and EMS stations for memorial services for those who have died the past year. It’s not only a physically draining and exhausting 7 day journey but an emotional one as well. We meet the families of loved ones who have died and we help bring closure to them. We wear dog tags with their loved ones names on it for every mile of the ride and at the end of the ride we present the dog tags and a personal poster of the loved one to the family members. For any mile I or someone else is not on the bike, the dog tags get handed to someone who is riding so that every mile those tags are with a Muddy Angel.

This year I will be riding in honor of Matthew Durham from Woodinville Fire who lost his life this past December battling Cancer which was a direct result of his work in Fire and EMS. I will wear his dog tags proudly and present them to his family, along with the poster that all the honorees have made in their memory. Help me honor him, his family and his work with a donation to the Fallen Angel Fund.

I have been a Firefighter/EMT for the past 11 years, and I am also a Combat Medic with the Air Force Reserve; therefore I have a vested interest in seeing the continued success of the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride and the Fallen Angel Fund.

All riders (known as "Muddy Angels") are tasked with donating a minimum amount of $250 to this great cause as well as a $350 registration fee and I need your help again to make this happen.

There are a few ways to help me in my fundraising efforts:
Donations may be made payable to: NEMSMBR, and can be mailed to PO BOX 813 Littleton NH 03561 with my name in the Memo Line of the check as one of my sponsors. Your donation and sponsorship is 100% tax deductible. You may also make a secure online donation at www.muddyangels.org. Please make sure to include my full name in the memo line when donating online so I get credit for your contribution. Please feel free to take a look at the web site for verification of the organization and to find out more information concerning the ride. You may also visit my personal blog of last year’s ride to get more information, see pictures of the ride and read about last year’s journey: http://teamtamie.blogspot.com/


Thank you for any and all support you are willing to give for this great cause. It’s not only for those we have already lost, but for those we will unfortunately lose in the future.