Profile

About: Hey everyone! My name is Shashwat Limbasia and I am so so excited to be on this journey to Alaska with such a wonderful team! I'm currently a junior majoring in Neuroscience on the pre-med track, hoping to pursue a career in surgical or oncological medicine (or maybe a combination of both, who knows?!).

Apart from Texas 4000, I'm involved in my fraternity, Phi Delta Epsilon, and serve as a representative on the Dean's Scholar Council where I get to help plan cool events for my honors program. I also work as an undergraduate researcher in the Taylor Lab with the CRISPR-Cas9 complex (which I'm sure many of you have heard about!) and as a teaching assistant for this cool neuroscience coding class.

When I'm not busy with work and such, I really enjoy spending time with friends on weekends, bouldering at ABP, and gaming away on Assassin’s Creed. In addition, I love to stay active through workouts, swimming, and especially cycling. I'm currently only focused on distance cycling, but eventually, I'd like to get into building pace so I can hopefully compete in crit racing.

I'm super grateful to have the opportunity of embarking on this incredible journey and can't wait to get to know all of my teammates and everyone I encounter during this experience. I sincerely thank you for taking time out of your day to visit my page and get to know me a little better!

Please feel free to reach out to me at 972-890-3442 or shashwatlimbasia@gmail.com at any time (yes, at 3AM is also fine)!

Why I Ride

My Dada (grandfather) was a keen reader, selfless devotee, and a caring father and husband. I know this because my dad has shared this with me through pictures and stories to keep his legacy alive. Only a few months after I was born, my grandfather was bed-ridden with a severely debilitating liver issue. Once a perfectly, healthy individual, he could walk for miles and talk for hours, but this cruel complication snatched away every shred of his humanity. He passed away before my first birthday. Though I regret the memories I wasn’t able to create with him, I admire the principles of honesty, integrity, and respect he upheld and passed down to my father, and through him, to me. I've come to understand the importance of preserving the values and legacy of those that we’ve lost, whether that be cancer or any other disease.

I've grown up hearing way too many similar stories of people taken away by cancer especially who were both once in my life and the loved ones of another. Just as my dad dealt with the pain of losing a loved one, I recently experienced the loss of a family member close to me. We’re all aware of how the pandemic negatively impacted our personal lives and social relationships. In mid-2020, my family received news that my Kaka (uncle), who lived in India, had lost his fight with the virus. Travel bans had already made it difficult to support him or say goodbye, and when my family got the call, I felt helpless and defeated. The impact of this loss truly motivated me to take an active role in my community and seek out opportunities to contribute to efforts in managing global health issues.

Looking back on the pandemic, I realized how similar Covid-19’s impact has been to cancer. With the pandemic, we didn’t know how to treat the virus early on and, consequently, were faced with a massive death toll; however, as we began to understand its mechanisms and mode of infection through research, the distribution of vaccines offered incredible prospects for managing the crisis and assisting in the uphill battle. With cancer, we’re still facing this uphill battle. My dream is to not only see but contribute to the collective movement that will inevitably help cure the cancer problem.

With organizations like Texas 4000 actively engaging in the fight, I am hopeful for a future in which there’s increased awareness, significant advances in research, and better treatment routes so no one individual or family ever has to face the pain and loss that come with cancer. Texas 4000 has not only provided me with a platform to fundraise money for cancer awareness/research, but also an unmatched experience enabling me to become a better leader, mentor, peer, and advocate for the cause. As part of the Texas 4000 community, I intend to serve as an inspiration and source of motivation for my teammates by working diligently and promoting a sense of camaraderie. I ride not only for myself and my loved ones, but to uphold the legacies of anyone that has suffered from the impact of cancer.

Even though it’s difficult to measure what my personal impact will be, I do know it’ll be from a place of love, dedication, and a little bit of crazy. Before the cure will come treatment, before treatment will come research, and before research will come the people. People like us who are so passionate about fighting cancer that they’re willing to embark on a journey this wild.

Thank you so much for reading this far, please reach out if you'd like to share your story or if there's someone you'd like me to ride for!

To Alaska and back,
Shashwat