Bike trip to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research

To honor the memory of his wife, Ramona resident Jon McKee is embarking on a trans-America bicycle ride to raise funds to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, the disease that took her life.

Charlotte McKee, 83, died April 8 from complications of Alzheimer’s Disease, just 2-1/2 months before she and Jon would celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.

“I wish to carry forward the hope she placed in Alzheimer’s San Diego for the cure through its sponsored research which she will not live to see,” McKee states in a brochure he had printed about the fundraiser that he is calling “Charlotte’s Ride.”

“She had that faith and that hope,” he told the Sentinel.

Every cent he raises from the ride will be donated for Alzheimer’s research, he said.

For McKee, the fundraising ride was one that evolved after speaking with his wife’s hospice team.

During the last three months of her life, Charlotte was under the care of hospice, he said, and one afternoon while she was sleeping, the team asked him how he will move on after her death.

“I answered, ‘I think I’ll take myself for a road trip,’” he said, adding that he would visit friends along the way.

As a cyclist who routinely biked to the top of Mt. Woodson, McKee soon thought, “Instead of a four-wheel road trip, how about a two-wheel road trip?”

McKee set Yorktown, Va., as his destination. That is where his best friend and fellow helicopter pilot from their days serving in Vietnam lives. He pored over bicycle maps and researched equipment. He asked Clark Cathcart, the owner of CC Cycles, formerly Kirk’s Bike Shop, to build him a heavy-duty touring bike.

Then, he said, one Friday morning it hit him that he could do the ride in her honor and link up with Alzheimer’s San Diego, knowing it was dear to her heart. That evening she died, said McKee.

Charlotte’s conviction was so strong that a cure be found, he said, that even when she was terribly weakened by the disease last fall, she requested to attend a Alzheimer’s San Diego-sponsored conference where researchers and pharmaceutical industry personnel presented their latest findings in the battle against the disease.

When he called Alzheimer’s San Diego about his fundraising bike trip idea, McKee said, “They were immediately on board with it.”

Recently, he spoke at an Alzheimer’s San Diego board meeting about his trip and his experience caring for a loved one with the disease.

The tentative launch date for his cross country ride is May 20, between 10 and 11 a.m., from Alzheimer’s San Diego’s offices at 6632 Convoy Court in San Diego. Along his journey, he plans to pass through El Paso and Austin, Texas; Baton Rouge, La.; Natchez and Tupelo, Miss.; and Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky before reaching Yorktown Family Practice, the office of his friend, Dr. John Bryant, who treats Alzheimer’s patients.

McKee, 70, said he will be “plastic camping,” otherwise known as “card camping,” using his credit card to stay in motels and dine in restaurants along the way.

For more on his trip or to donate, visit www.alzsd.org/thirdparty. As of May 16, he had raised $10,769, about 43 percent of his goal.