Today I had the good fortune of a referral I made to a friend being accepted. Since I immediately had space for 10 more pictures I decided to add a new folder for my passion of Motocross.
A while back...in 2004 I worked with a professional motocross team that was created to support newly turned pro rider Cody Gilmore. My job was basically gopher. Whatever the team needed...I went for it! lol I helped with advertising, contracting team sponsorships, answered the phone in the suspension shop and basically helped where-ever I could.
Well..I got to be pretty good friends with Cody Gilmore and we've kept in touch since then. Cody has 2 amatuer national championships before he turned pro. Cody raced a few of the outdoor national races in 2004 and then we hit the areancross circuit hard and heavy. He wound up finishing 15th in the nation and got the AMA Rookie of the Year award.
The second year Cody raced some supercross and a few outdoor national races...but lack of major sponsorships (to cover things like hotels, food and diesel fuel) kept him from racing full time. Then the arenacross season came around and Cody wound up doing extremely well his second season getting top 5 finishes in nearly every round and a few 1st places as well. Unfortunately...as is the case in this sport so often...Cody got hurt. He would wind up missing about 1/2 of the season and still wound up finishing 11th in the nation.
Things turned horribly bad for Cody when he was helping a friend in the pits at the amatuer national championships at Loretta Lynn's ranch in 2006. Cody had been having back pains and they eventually got so bad that he had to leave the race and go back to his hotel room. By that evening Cody couldn't move or feel anything below his waist!
Cody was rushed to the emergency room where he went through a rigorous round of testing that would eventually reveal that he had Cancer. Ewing Sarcoma had hit Cody in the form of two large lumps...one on his shoulder and the other on his spine (which was causing the paralysis and back pain).
They operated and were able to remove all of the Cancerous material. Cody was told that he may never walk again...much less ride. He underwent a full round of chemo and radiation treatments and has since been certified cancer-free. Furthermore Cody is gaining weight and growing hair again and is even back riding the bike again.
It will be some time before Cody regains all of his strength and his speed on the bike. But I have faith that if ANYBODY can do it...he can!
So this new folder and the pictures are dedicated to MY HERO and friend...Cody Gilmore AMA# 374!
WAY TO GO CODY!!!! Love ya brother!
Sincerely,
Paul Valenti -
Guitar/Vocals - RiverGard
www.RiverGard.com
