Riding Again For Derek

Zack DiGregorio turned 26 yesterday.

He's the oldest of Steve and Nadia DiGregorio's three children. He's also a Penn grad, though TigerBlog doesn't hold that against him. 

TigerBlog Jr. turns 24 this weekend. Here's a picture of TBJ and Zack:

This picture was taken when they were both ballboys for Princeton basketball. This game was played on New Year's Eve 2004.

TB most recently saw Zack this past Saturday, at the ninth Million Dollar Bike Ride, a fundraising event for orphan diseases. These orphan diseases are ones that don't afflict large numbers of people, and therefore they are diseases that struggle with having the resources necessary to try to fight them.

It's a big problem. The more that a disease impacts a large number, the more funding it can get to try to find a cure. When you deal with diseases that have such small numbers, those who are directly affected are almost left to themselves to try to make a difference. In the meantime, the disease is able to move along unchecked.

The DiGregorio family was thrown into the unfortunate world of orphan diseases, when Zack's brother and the middle DiGregorio child Derek was diagnosed with Ataxia-telangiectasia, a disease that attacks the immune systems and affects motor skills. It's a rough disease to try to combat, since it is so rare.

If anyone has made a difference, it's been the DiGregorios. Steve, or "Digger" as he's known to everyone who knows him, was an assistant football coach at Princeton before going on to be a very successful New Jersey high school football coach. In fact, this past year he was the NJ.com Coach of the Year. 

He and his wife Nadia dove in headfirst to try to combat A-T, and they have been enormously successful in their quest. They have also enlisted the Princeton Athletics family for help, and those who have stood up is like a Who's Who of great Princetonians, including Jason Garrett, John Thompson III, Pete Carril, Howard Levy, Steve Verbit and so, so many others.

How much money have they raised for research and trials? Just short of $1 million. That's incredible. 

The bike ride each June is one of the highlights of their fund-raising efforts. In pre-pandemic years, it's been held in Philadelphia. The last two years, it was held at the home of Princeton head athletic trainer Charlie Thompson and his wife Sandy.

The ride itself went 17 miles. There was some rumblings of doing it twice, for 34 miles. TB and Zack rode together for awhile, and Zack mentioned that he would do the second 17 as long as one other person did. That almost was enough to get TB to do it, but instead he stopped after the first 17.

There was pre-race food and post-race food, donated by sponsors whom Nadia recruited. Of course she did. 

In a world that has been so isolated for so long, it was great to see people in person again, just like a year ago at Charlie's house. This time, there were other riders who were scattered in several locations, including one group in Israel.

It was a nice morning for a ride. It was great to have some laughs and some fun with people who haven't been able to hang out in person much. 

Digger, as he always does, spoke briefly about the event and about how much it means to him and his family. This is a family that has dealt with a lot and knows how to deal with adversity. The youngest son, Aaron, had a flat tire near the midway point, which meant about eight miles away from Charlie's house. That doesn't even register on the DiGregorio scale of adversity. 

As always, Digger became emotional as he spoke. He's as strong as it gets, with this fight and others that he's had to deal with along the way. He usually defaults to laughter, a deep, strong laugh. This time, he teared up a bit as he looked out at those who gathered there once again in the name of helping his son.

More than anything else, this is always about Derek, who will turn 24 this summer. He's sharp. He banters well. He likes to poke fun at people, and people in turn poke fun back at him. 

He greeted the returning riders from the sidewalk in front of Charlie's house, mostly with some of that banter, but with an obvious underlying appreciation and happiness to have these people in his life. Those people, in turn, find inspiration in everything about Derek, and everything about his family.

Derek's view is from a wheelchair, but few stand taller than he does.