Sports
Yorktown Grad to 'Cycle for Survival' and Fight Cancer
YHS graduate Christopher Sarro will ride a stationary bike today to help raise money for cancer research. His own daughter Michelle was diagnosed with leukemia last summer.
graduate Christopher Sarro, who is now a successful lawyer and motivational speaker, once wore the number 12 jersey on the school's football team.
On Saturday, Jan. 12, he will take on a different challenge and despite having signed on late and just 12 days to train, he will tap into that competitive spirit of his youth to raise money for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's pediatrics department.
He will participate in the annual Cycle for Survival at Equinox Fitness Club in Manhattan, where he will ride a stationary bike. The relay-style team cycling event has raised more than $9 million for research on rare cancers at the hospital.
Find out what's happening in Yorktown-Somerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"I cycle with confidence that Cycle for Survival is making an impact on cancer," Sarro wrote on a page dedicated to his fundraising efforts. "In just the past five years, Cycle has directly funded 25 clinical trials and research studies at Memorial Sloan-Kettering."
Sarro is riding not only for research, but also for his daughter, after she had finished her first year of law school at Vermont Law School last summer.
Find out what's happening in Yorktown-Somerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Michelle is in remission but with a lengthy course of treatment still ahead.
On Friday, the father met the student who wears number 12 from this year’s football team, along with coach Mike Rescigno. He also met and posed for pictures with high school principal Joseph DeGennaro and athletic director Fio Nardone. Sarro was given a Yorktown High School number 12 jersey he could wear during Saturday's event.
Sarro is a graduate of Harvard University who lives in the area with his wife Mary Jo and his three children, who all attended .
Cycle for Survival, founded in 2007 by Jennifer Goodman Linn of New Jersey, who died last year, is the center’s most successful patient-run fundraiser. An indoor relay team event, it has raised more than $9 million and funded 25 clinical trials and research studies.
Sarro's “12 for 12” campaign raised $2,820 through Monday. Donations can be made to the “Pedal for Peds” fundraising site.
__
Do you like Patch? "Like" us on Facebook and join the conversation there. Thank you for reading!
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
