Man ventures on 1,300 mile bike ride to raise money for brother who died of cancer

Reporter: Taylor Petras Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Nate Shipley. Credit: WINK News.

A man ventured on the longest bike ride of his life to honor his older brother who died of cancer over the summer. He was joined by a number of other riders for the special journey.

Nate Shipley’s brother, Drew Shipley, died of leukemia in July — cancer no one knew he had. So Nate decided to go on the longest bike ride of his life to raise money for his brother’s widow and their three children.

The long ride is expected to come to a close in Cape Coral on Tuesday.

“I said, ‘Hey, I got this crazy idea; what do you think?’” Nate said.

Nate planned to ride his bike for four days, nonstop, 1,300 miles from Kokomo, Indiana to Cape Coral.

“[Drew] was a fun-loving guy,” Nate said. “Man, he always looked out for the guy, the kid that was getting picked on or the marginalized.”

Nate and Drew’s brother, Adam, was also along for the journey toward its end.

“He’s just a fun guy,” Adam said. “He was my best friend. It was very unexpected to lose him.”

Adam joined Nate for the last leg of the trip, roughly 30 miles to bike from Port Charlotte to Cape Coral. It was all for the love of their brother, his wife and their kids.

“Just trying to help her make sure she doesn’t lose the house or anything like that, things like that,” Nate said. “Make sure the kids are taken care of.”

The two bike riders have trekked through rain and the pitch black of night, testing them physically.

“That’s a lot more exercise than he and I were used to doing,” Adam said.

They plan to form a nonprofit organization called “WOW 127,” which will stand for “Watching out for Widows.” It’s to help churches support widows in the community.

Nate said he knows he and Adam’s brother was with them on the long ride.

“Yeah, big time,” Nate said. “One of the rides in Calhoun, Georgia, I was taking off from Calhoun, probably around four-thirty, five o’clock,” Nate said. “And there was this huge rainbow. Just full as can be, and I was like, ‘Man, that’s from Drew. That’s from God.”

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