It’s a ride that is very personal for him following his son James’s own fight with leukemia a few years ago.

The Dieter family’s experience with leukemia began in late 2023.

“He popped a fever that just wouldn’t go down,” Deiter said. “We ended up dealing with that for about a week before finally getting a blood test from his pediatrician. They called us and said ‘you need to get up to Oishei right away’. So we drove up that night. That was the middle of October 2023.”

The Deiter family got up to the hospital to find James had an atypical presentation and it was not really known what it was, which had them waiting on a diagnosis for 11 days. Typically, Dieter said, this type of leukemia that James had is a “slam dunk”, in that the blood test happens followed by the diagnosis and treatment. This one was a little different as James had two cancers; acute lymphoblastic leukemia and milofibrosis. James’s treatment began Halloween of that year, and Dieter said his son navigated the whole experience with courage and strength. After the first month of treatment they went back to find that James was responding well and the milofibrosis had disappeared. James went through the rest of his treatment, and the family got a call this past January, the day before the next appointment for the next treatment round, and was told that James was done with his treatment and is now cured. An appointment was scheduled for after treatment protocols and after care such as getting his metaport removed. James rang the bell at Roswell on March 5.

Brice and James Dieter at Roswell Park.

“So it was sooner than we expected,” Dieter said. “We were expecting easily a full three years. He ended up being in treatment for about half of his life at that point, because he was just a little over two years old when diagnosed and he was cured two years and four months later.”

EMPIRE STATE RIDE

Dieter found out about the Empire State Ride while going through this experience. With he and his wife having four boys, James is the third, and the two that are older are on a baseball team through Jamestown City Rec. Dieter said the family received a lot of support from Jamestown City Rec and the team, including when one of the coaches invited them to a cancer fundraiser benefit. At the benefit they found out about someone riding their bike across the state to raise money for cancer treatment. This was the summer of 2024, and while Dieter was too late to sign up at that point he signed up and did the 2025 ride, and will be doing it again in 2026.

“I hate cancer and this was a way I could actively get involved,” Dieter said. “Being able to be on the ride, as I did the Empire State Ride last year, we get to see every night through some presentations over supper at the camps, where this money goes to and the effect that it has.”

Along the ride with people he had just met, Dieter got to hear stories from people such as one man who now has more time with his father because of the therapy developed by Roswell with funds that came from the ride. Another man whose wife was diagnosed with glioblastoma, which Dieter said is a death sentence in most cases, still has her with him and she is healthy and strong now with a daughter thanks to treatment that was funded through the ride.

The Dieter family on the day James got to ring the bell at Roswell.

“I’m riding with people who are directly benefiting from these funds that we’re raising,” Dieter said.

Riders meet for the ride at Wagner College on the Saturday before the event, which starts the last Sunday of July. People come from all over the world and the ride kicks off on Sunday morning from Wagner College on Staten Island, going to the first stop in Summers, New York, about 65 miles. Each day, Dieter said, they go from town to town with a standard day being 65 to 101 miles a day, until they reach Niagara Falls on the following Saturday, August 1. Along the way the riders get to see the effects of the funds they raise, and Dieter said he has seen specifically other cases that make the ride really close to home for the community. Last year, he met Emily Eisenhart, a researcher at Roswell with Dr Joyce Ohm, who are getting a clinical trial together for the same sarcoma that the local community just lost Johnny Lamancuso to.

“So the funds that I’m raising are not just for general cancer research,” Dieter said. “The funds that I get to raise are earmarked specifically for pediatric cancer research.”

‘NOT JUST ANOTHER FUNDRAISER’

Dieter added that it is not the ride itself that finds the cures, but it is how people gather together to raise funds, which are what really make life-changing impacts on people that they will never meet.

The Empire State ride raises funds directly donated to cancer research and treatments.

“It’s not just another fundraiser,” Dieter said. “There can be some fatigue when we see fundraisers all the time, and I’m not downplaying any of those by any means, but if you’re even at all inclined to give, there is real, measurable impact from every dollar raised to end cancer. Every one of us has someone in our lives that has been touched by cancer, whether it’s a family member or a friend, there’s no degrees of separation anymore.”

Dieter said his goal is to encourage and show people that they can be actively involved in seeing others be healed, just by a simple donation. Life changing impact, he added, comes from every donation, and every dollar gets multiplied and leveraged through grants and multiplied by 23. So, if someone gave five dollars, it becomes five times 23.

“It’s not just a simple donation,” Dieter said. “It’s truly life saving research.”

Dieter is also working with the Chop House on Main to put on a special fundraiser called “Steak and a Beer for the Cure”. People can go and get an eight ounce sirloin, truffle fries and a beer or house wine, and a portion of the meal goes towards Dieter’s fundraiser for the Empire State Ride, running through the month of June.

“So if you go in and mention that and get a steak and a beer you will be making a direct impact on the lives of people to come,” Dieter said.

The best way to donate to Dieter’s ride is by making a donation on his direct page for the ride, which includes more information and how to get involved. Dieter’s page can be found at give.roswellpark.org/site/TR/SpecialEvents/General?pg=personal&px=1680517&fr_id=2130.