×

Journey Of Joy

Falconer Resident And Cancer Survivor Ready For Trip Across State

Falconer resident Bob Minton, seen in a pair of 2021 photos, will be making another Empire State Ride in July. The week-long, 548-mile bicycle trek from Staten Island to Niagara Falls is held to raise funds for research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. Submitted photos

Three days after Thanksgiving 2018, Bob and Brenda Minton’s Falconer home was filled with family.

Children, grandchildren, in-laws.

A wonderful gathering with loved ones, for sure.

Then Bob’s phone rang and the figurative air was taken out of the room.

On the line was his doctor, a gastroenterologist.

“When your specialist calls you on Sunday afternoon on a holiday weekend, your face turns white and everybody stares at you,” said Bob, who served as guidance counselor at Falconer and Sherman Central Schools and at BOCES for nearly 40 years.

An endoscopy, biopsy and CT scan were ordered.

Stomach cancer was found.

“That’s a frightening thought right there,” said Minton, who sought a second opinion at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo.

Three months later — Feb. 22, 2019, to be exact — a portion of his stomach was successfully removed. Thankfully, the cancer had not spread. Six days later, he was discharged.

“I said I would do two things,” Minton said last week. “I would not go out of the hospital in a wheelchair and I would pay it forward.”

Mission accomplished on both fronts.

And then some.

ı ı ı

Terry Bourgeois had a vision for the Empire State Ride.

That vision became reality in 2014 when he rode his bicycle 540 miles from New York City to Niagara Falls — his mother and sister following along in a service-and-gear vehicle — in an effort to raise funds for research at Roswell Park.

The number of riders grew to 165 by 2019 and 227 by 2021.

“I registered to ride … in 2020, but it ended up being done virtually due to COVID-19,” he said, “so I rode 550 miles around southern Chautauqua County and northwest Pennsylvania.”

Last summer, Minton registered to ride again — this time 560 miles, beginning at Wagner College in Staten Island. Joined by other riders, including Jamestown-area residents Jim Andrews, Timothy O’Brien and Douglas Schutte and former area resident Michael Ginestre, Minton successfully completed the week-long trek that included overnight stops in Yorktown Heights, Rhinebeck, Albany, Utica, Weedsport and Spencerport before ultimately finishing in Niagara Falls.

“It’s a massive two-by-two escorted line down into Niagara Falls, with quite a few thousand people just cheering you on the sidelines,” Minton said. “That’s a real special moment. You think of those football players who go into big stadiums and there’s 70,000 people there. You (wonder) what that’s like. I got to experience it from a different perspective.

“You want to throw up your hands and celebrate the victory of it. There are tears and there are incredible hugs. … It’s a real celebration.”

Minton and 252 other riders — 226 week-long and 17 virtual — have registered to do it again, beginning July 24. Total distance will be 548 miles. Minton hopes to get to $4,000 in donations.

“I commit myself to $3,500,” Minton said. “If I don’t raise that, it comes out of my own pocket. … You can donate to any one of us,” Minton said. ” … It goes in the same bucket.”

Minton’s figurative bucket is overflowing with gratitude.

ı ı ı

A man of faith, the 68-year-old admitted that he was taught a life lesson as he sat in church on confirmation Sunday about a year before his cancer diagnosis.

“One of the girls stood up and she gave a little talk,” Minton said. “She said, ‘You can either worry or trust God, but you can’t do both.’ That just kind of stayed with me all the time. Man, when this cancer came up, I thought about that.”

And on his final day at Roswell Park — Feb. 28, 2019 — that trust was rewarded.

“I was reading my devotional on the last day of February, on my last day in the hospital, and the last line said, ‘We are about to go on a journey of joy.’

“I’m trying to live that out.”

Should Minton need a gentle reminder while he’s on his bicycle, however, all he has to do is look at his wristband, which includes phone numbers of his family members followed by three words of encouragement.

And what are they?

“Never give up.”

“That’s the way it’s going to be for the rest of my life,” Minton said. “‘Never give up’ is what I’ll share with anybody. … Just keep fighting the fight.”

ı ı ı

To donate to the Empire State Ride, go to www.empirestateride.com or make out a check payable to Empire State Ride. Include any rider’s name in the memo and mail to Empire State Ride, Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, Elm and Carlton Streets, Buffalo, New York 14263.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today