A million-dollar moment: LOWVELO riders deliver banner year for cancer research at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center

A new threshold has been crossed for LOWVELO – a $1 million threshold.

LOWELO24 had more riders, more teams and more dollars raised than any ride in its six-year history. Participants – all 1,895 of them – combined to crush the previous fundraising record, collecting $1,002,000 for lifesaving cancer research at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. That’s more than a 50% increase over the previous year. It all culminated Tuesday night with the Jerry Zucker Awards Ceremony at the Cooper River Room in Mount Pleasant.

“This was a banner year,” said event manager Chris Winn to a standing-room-only crowd. “I don’t know how else to say it. We had the biggest year for LOWVELO ever. Period.”

 

The night was a celebration of the riders who put in the work to elevate LOWVELO to the next level – including nearly 40 who fundraised more than $2,500. Seven of those riders went above and beyond, each raising more than $10,000.

LOWVELO performer and 15-year cancer survivor Nathan Calhoun of Calhoun’s Calling was honored with a special video presentation that earned him rousing applause. Four teams received Barrier Island Awards, given to groups that created offsite events to raise money for the cause. Several volunteers were given Anchor Awards for their contributions to LOWVELO24.

Some of the event’s top teams were also highlighted, including First Capital Bank, led by Heidi Finniff, Joe Kassim and Harvey Glick, who took home the yellow jersey as the top overall fundraiser. Glick was also honored with the Impact Award for his generous donation, which underwrote the ride for 367 MUSC students, staff members and researchers, giving them the chance to ride alongside their peers and beneficiaries of their work. Rounding out the top five teams were Team Kopper, Team Tobacco Free, Johnson & Johnson and Team SueNami.

Altogether, the top 10 teams raised more than $385,000.

So where does all the money go? Hollings deputy director William Hawkins, M.D., explained that events like LOWVELO allow Hollings to fund brand-new ideas and help researchers to become eligible for large government grants.

“These new ideas need some data and they need some substance before they can go and be competitive,” said Hawkins. “So, without this kind of preliminary investment and impact, we can’t do what we do.”

 

A prime example of this is the CAR-T cell therapy program at Hollings, established in part by rider-raised funds from previous LOWVELO rides.

During CAR-T cell therapy, a blood sample is taken from the patient after all other treatment options have been exhausted. The immune cells in that sample are isolated, reengineered in a lab and multiplied to fight the cancer. They are then infused back into the patient. In a successful treatment, the CAR-T cells will continue to multiply and begin to recognize and kill cancer cells.

In 2024, Hollings enrolled its first blood cancer patients in a clinical trial to receive our own, patented version of these purified CAR-T cells. The trial was so successful, it enabled the researchers to secure a large grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to continue their work. By building up its own program, thanks to the help of LOWVELO riders, Hollings is making this cutting-edge treatment much more accessible to patients across South Carolina.

Thanks to more recent funding from LOWVELO, Hollings researcher Leo Ferreira, Ph.D., is taking the success of CAR-T cell therapy with blood cancers and attempting to replicate it for solid tumors, like pancreatic cancer.

“LOWVELO is a great community, above all,” said Ferreira, who also has ridden in every LOWVELO event since arriving at Hollings in 2021. “You feel like a family. Cancer is not against one of us, it’s against all of us. So, it gives me a renewed sense of hope that our efforts combined in the research, and the fundraising, and the getting together as a group of people can really help defeat this disease once and for all.”

The funds from LOWVELO have also been used to train the next generation of scientists, physicians and researchers, to better support survivors, to explore a new approach to fighting breast cancer, to help manage patients with a higher risks of hereditary cancers and many other projects.

LOWVELO will return for its seventh year on Nov. 1. Registration is now open with an early bird incentive that runs through midnight on March 11. Riders can sign up for any route – 7, 14, 23, 50 or 80 miles or the stationary ride – with just a $300 fundraising commitment. After March 11, those commitments will increase for most routes. The LOWVELO team hopes to register at least 2,300 riders for this year’s event with a fundraising goal of $1.4 million.

“We’ve had a lot of growth,” said Winn. “And the impact of it all, aside from great exposure and a good time riding bikes is that this money goes straight into the kitty for Hollings research to fund the work that’s happening right now – projects we can’t wait 10 years to get to.”

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