Texas 4000 riders during their pit stop in Prince George today (Laura Elizondo is on the far right, holding the bike) – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – Cancer has affected everyone they say, and Laura Elizondo is no different.

A graduate student at the University of Texas, Laura is one of 22 Texas 4000 riders making a pit stop in Prince George today while on their 70-day journey from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska.

She, along with the others, will have ridden 4,000 miles once their journey is complete – all with a goal of raising money in the fight against cancer.

“When I was about 10 years old my grandfather passed away after his 10-year battle with kidney cancer,” says Laura. “And my whole life he was battling that and one of the things that was really important to him in his last four or five years was cancer research.”

She says that was of particular importance to him because he was a doctor himself.

“As a doctor he really stressed to us the importance of science and making sacrifices to enable science to understand the disease a bit better.”

And as if her grandfather’s battle wasn’t tough enough, Laura says her grandmother now has breast cancer and her aunt just passed away from the disease this summer.

Thankfully, Laura says the bike ride has shown her she’s not alone though.

“We’ve met people along the way who have incredible stories to tell about their fight against cancer. About someone they loved or something that’s inspired them to want to help us and fight cancer along side us.”

She says proceeds from the ride – she figures it will end being roughly $600,000 – will go towards supporting cancer research.

If you’d like to learn more about the Texas 4000, or even make a donation, click here.