Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Dave Sturgis participated in a cross-country bicycle tour to raise money to fight rare childhood disease.

Above: Dave Sturgis, of Sandpoint, and 8-year-old Henry Sturgis, who is fighting cystinosis. Dave Sturgis recently completed Race Across America to to find a cure.

Three Sandpoint residents recently bicycled across the country as part of Race Across America to raise money for youths fighting a rare disease.

Dave Sturgis, 70, said he lost 52 pounds preparing for the 3,004-mile race from Oceanside, California, to Annapolis, Maryland.

“We finished it and got nobody hurt. That’s got to be a success,” Sturgis said.

The team of Arlene Cook, 55, and Kirk Johnson, 44, both also of Sandpoint; and Bob Robinson, 72, of La Jolla, Calif., started June 20 and finished June 28 with a time of seven days, 17 hours and 43 minutes to finish second in the 50-and-over mixed competition.

“There’s no prize money, just bragging rights I guess,” he said. “Most teams ride for a charity.”

Sturgis and his team rode to raise money for his grandson, Henry Sturgis, 8, who has a genetic “orphan” disease called cystinosis, which affects about 500 children in the country a year and 2,000 worldwide.

Cystinosis is a disease in which the host makes the amino acid cystine but has no way to break it down. As a result, the cystine crystallizes in cells and slowly destroys the body’s major organs.

“There is no known cure to date,” Sturgis said. “Henry was diagnosed in 2007. Every dime we raise goes to … the Cystinosis Research Foundation.”

The goal is to raise $150,000, he said.

As for the race, Sturgis had been involved as a crew member for Team Laughing Dog when Mel Dick, of Sandpoint, approached Sturgis last August about riding in the 34-year-old Race Across America.

“It wasn’t on my bucket list. At 70 years old, what the hell do I need to do that for?” he said. “But I made a commitment to Henry that I’d do anything to make his disease go away.”

Sturgis started training for team “24 Hours for Hank” last October and lost the pre-race weight.

The team split the rides to six-hour intervals and each tried to average 100 to 120 miles per leg. The four riders had a team of 12 crew members who followed the riders in a motor home.

“It’s all kind of fun,” he said. “What it is, is to get my grandson a cure.”