My Name Is: Erica Vonderheid - #lakewoodnews

I'm originally from Philadelphia and graduated with a degree in public relations from Penn State University. After college, I ended up in Washington, D.C., where I got to work at a healthcare think tank.

At age 25, I worked at Arizona State University with the Dean of Nursing, who encouraged me to pursue a nursing degree. I decided to return to Washington, D.C., to pursue a nursing degree at George Mason University. It was the best decision I ever made.

Over the years

I worked for a few years in the ICU before taking a travel nurse job in Aurora. Like many folks who plan to just visit Colorado, I never left.

Once my travel nurse contract ended, I decided to make the switch to oncology/BMT for a couple reasons. I am tied to oncology on a personal level; like so many people, my life has been interrupted by cancer. At age 9, I lost my mom to cancer. I learned at a young age that despite cancer's complexities, it is still incapable of knocking down a strong foundation built on family, friendships and love.

Today, I am honored to be working as community product liaison at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

I first learned of the Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer ride last year when I got to greet the Utah-to-Colorado bike riders at the finish line in Boulder.

It took months of dedicated training to prepare. As a non-cyclist, I had to learn how to ride with clip-in pedals, as well as prepare my body for long days on the bike.

I was selected to do the Denver-to-Missouri route and initially thought, "Flat lands, this will be easy!" Then I learned of the rolling hills and wonderful crosswinds. They are no joke!

Bristol-Myers Squibb truly set up my ride for success. I was assigned a coach to provide coaching tips and workouts and to track my logged miles to help measure performance.

The biggest challenge of the ride were those moments of silence along the long, endless roads of Kansas.

When we got to the finale in New Jersey, we jumped fully clothed into the ocean in celebration of our accomplishments. It was cathartic --; a group of non-cyclists managed to bike across the United States to raise money and awareness for cancer research. In doing so, we raised just over $411,000 to date for Stand Up to Cancer.

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/My-Name-Is-Erica-Vonderheid,236857