Desiree Rivera breathes new life into her brother?s memory.
After asthma took the life of her 14-year-old brother, T.J., her family started a bike tour to raise money and spread awareness about the dangers of asthma.
“There are a lot of hills, so people can feel what an asthma attack feels like,” Desiree says.
The bike tour, which started a decade ago, has raised up to $75,000 in a single year, and benefits the Lung Association of Maryland.
Desiree remembers getting the call when T.J. was having an asthma attack. She and her mom, Debbie, raced to T.J.?s friend?s house, where he was blue and unconscious on the ground.
He died looking into their eyes.
Now, it?s the first thing Debbie sees in the morning, the last at night.
“It was horrible; it was unbelievable. He died while looking at me,” Debbie says. “It?s like yesterday. It won?t go away.”
Desiree was 10 at the time, but still remembers climbing into her brother?s bed at night. He would wait to fall asleep until she did.
She?s now 20 with a fiancé on the frontlines in Iraq and was diagnosed with asthma three years ago.
She got her driver?s license just last month, four years after she could have started driving, because she was afraid of wrecking, putting someone else through what she?s endured.
Her brother?s friends, now graduated from college and starting families, still call and check on Desiree, who?s like their little sister.
Desiree is establishing a scholarship in her brother?s name, going along with the other two created by T.J.?s family.
“You go through your grieving process, but we keep bringing it up every year,” Debbie says. “To us, as a family, it?s worth it to educate people.”
IF YOU GO
» What: 10th bike tour at the state wine festival
» Where: Agricultural center in Westminster
» Why: Benefit the American Lung Association
» When: Saturday, starting between 7:30 -10 a.m.
» How long: Eight, 31 or 62.5 miles
