2010 Not Superman Rally
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
June 12-13, 2010
In Memory of Alyson Hiles Thillemann
Registration opens December 1, 2009
The 2010 NSR rally is going to be dedicated to the Memory of Alyson Hiles Thillemann, my son's first cousin who died on October 16, 2009 at age 19 in Delavan, Wisconsin after a 4 year battle with cancer. All NSR proceeds over and above direct costs are being donated to a Memorial Fund set up at US Bank in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to pay Alyson's final expenses.
A letter to everyone from Alyson's mother, Ivy Thillemann...
There are not enough words to describe my daughter. She was funny, beautiful, smart and strong. I could go on forever.
Alyson was a great kid. I never had any problems wither her. She was a B honor roll student and was looking forward to college.
When she was 15 we found a lump in her hand. The doctor said it was nothing, just a benign tumor. We then had it removed and that is when they found out it was cancer (Rhabdomyosarcoma). They scanned the rest of her body and found tumors in her right leg, left hip and tailbone and determined it was already in stage 4.
Alyson started chemo therapy for a year with 6 weeks of radiation in Madison Wisconsin 5 days a week. We won! We beat the cancer. Two months later she experienced numbness in her legs and hands. It kept spreading until one morning Alyson could not walk or talk. At first, the doctors could not figure out what was wrong. Finally they determined that Alyson had Guillain-Barre Syndrome. This syndrome attacks the peripheral nervous system and can ultimately end in death. Aly came close to dying, but she was a fighter and was not going to let that happen. We lived in ICU for 2 months; another Christmas in the hospital.
In January 2007, I brought Alyson home in a wheel chair. She now had to relearn to walk and to use her hands. Make-A-Wish Foundation offered to send us to New York City in May. Alyson said, “I will walk in New York City”, and she did.
The next year only got better. Things were getting back to normal for Alyson and me. She was two years behind in school, but she wanted to graduate with her class. Alyson was determined and she worked really hard and she did it! She graduated with her class.
In the summer of 2008, Alyson went for her normal checkup. Our hearts dropped when the doctors told us the cancer was back. Now it was in her abdomen and in her pancreas. The doctors asked Aly what she wanted to do. Even though they gave Alyson a very low chance of beat the cancer this time, Alyson said she didn't care, but she wasn't going to give up. Another year of chemo began and it killed most of the cancer, but not all.
There was nothing left to do but wait for the inevitable. Alyson went on with planning her life and had decided to go to college, get her own apartment and marry her boyfriend, Brian Knapp.
We all miss Alyson so very much. We miss her laugh and her smile. What Aly would want you to remember is her favorite quote, "Don't wait for the storm to pass, learn to dance in the rain."
2010 will be a 36-hour rally with a mandatory 5-hour rest stop. NSR will give out bonus GPS coordinates with bonus points a week before the rally so that riders have adequate time to optimize their planned routes. There will be two classes - expert and novice with trophies awarded for each class. No ringers allowed in the novice class. If you have been a finisher in a 24-hour or longer rally, you are not a novice. A novice can voluntarily enter the expert class.
SPOT tracking devices are optional, but strongly encouraged. You will be allowed to publicly share your SPOT tracks, if you wish.
Rallymaster:
Jim Puckett j.c.puckett@gmail.com 573-270-5218
