I'm a junior at UT. I'm a spanish and portuguese major and I want to double in French. After school I want to go to law school. I'm originally from Houston, but I love Austin just as much and I got here as soon as I could. I love traveling and am very excited about this ride. I only recent started cycling so I know at the end of this long ride I'll be a stronger cyclist and a better person.

There are many reasons why I wanted to be a member of Texas 4000. When I started high school, I started volunteering at MD Anderson Cancer Center. There I met many amazing people. I volunteered there the every Sunday and there was one person in particular who I always saw off and on in the hospital. Her name is Olga Castro and she was just full of life. I would always go visit her and she is very important to me. She keeps fighting. Some of the other people I'm riding for are all the children who have cancer because they deserve to live without suffering. At MD Anderson, I met the bravest children, who still manage to smile and laugh and be hopeful. These children inspired me to grow my hair out and in my senior year, I cut it all off and donated it to Locks of Love. And I'm doing it again. The most important person for who I'm doing this is my mom. While I was in high school, she was misdiagnosed with breast cancer. We were all very scared until she went to the specialist at MD Anderson and was told it was benign. Then my 2nd year at UT, her doctor discovered she has fibroids in her uterus and was worried they might be cancerous. Luckily, they weren't cancerous, but she still need to have a hysterectomy. In both these instances, our family, became more appreciative of what we have and how blessed we are. I hope through this ride, I can help contribute to helping all those people to find a cure for cancer.