Community Corner

Fundraiser for Cancer-Stricken Priest Pulls in $4K

The Cycle Annex held the two-day Ride for Jon event last weekend, with proceeds benefitting South Pasadena priest Jon Dephouse.

Scores of community members pedaled their way into Jon Dephouse's heart last weekend, when they raised $4,000 to help the St. James Episcopal priest who's battling a rare cancer. 

"It’s very moving for me and my family to [receive] this outpouring of love from friends, and our church community and the firemen,'' Dephouse said Wednesday, a bit fatigued from his latest round of chemotherapy.

The event, Ride for Jon, was held Friday and Saturday at The Cycle Annex. People paid $32.95 per bike for an hour-long indoor cycling class. Proceeds benefitted Dephouse, who suffers from a rare and aggressive form of soft tissue cancer called Pleomorphic Rhabdomyosarcoma. Doctors diagnosed the 32-year-old triathlete with the disease earlier this fall. 

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Dephouse, who, with his wife, Sarah, have two sons, Caleb, 5 and Josiah, 1, has spent the last seven years competing as a triathlete.

"To have reflected back to us the people from all spheres of life who we've built relationships with over the past years...it's really something,'' he said of the fundraiser's turnout.

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Though the Dephouse family does have health insurance, cancer is expensive. There is an overwhelming amount of co-pays, transportation, childcare, and treatment expenses. You can learn more about Jon’s battle at http://www.bikingbeforedawn.blogspot.com/. Information about the Help Jon Dephouse Fight Cancer Fund can be found here: bit.ly/YDJo0a.

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