Friday, Jul. 31, 2009

Collinsville teacher bikes across country in honor of Triad student who died of cancer

A Collinsville teacher has spent the past month riding his bicycle across the country in honor of a Triad Middle School student who lost his battle with cancer.

The cross-country trek will come to end Sunday, when friends and family gather to welcome home Tom King, of St. Jacob.

King, who teaches physical education at Collinsville Middle School, began riding his bike June 26 in Seattle. His departure was just days shy of the one-year anniversary of Caleb Zarzecki's death.

Caleb, 15, died June 30, 2008. He had battled leukemia and brain tumors most of his life.

King met Caleb when he was serving as a student-teacher at Triad Middle School.

"Caleb met him and said 'I have a new friend, Tom'," explained Robin Zarzecki, Caleb's mother. "It was two weeks later before I realized it was an adult and a teacher. I think Caleb just inspired Tom a lot when they met."

Caleb's life inspired a lot of people: When he was 2 years old and seeking treatment for the rare form of leukemia, St. Stephen Catholic Church in Caseyville parishioners joined in prayer and fundraising. After being diagnosed with inoperable brain tumors, 10-year-old Caleb received a flight suit and helped plan a mock flight to Florida, courtesy of more than 30 members of the 485th Airlift Squadron at Scott Air Force Base.

King's more than 2,000-mile adventure is meant to raise money for a scholarship in Caleb's name. It will be awarded to a Triad student in 2012, the year Caleb would have graduated.

King got the idea to ride across the country in honor of Caleb with a group benefiting the American Lung Association. When that event was canceled, he decided to cycle solo.

His trip has taken him through nine states -- to the site of the Little Bighorn battlefield in Montana and through the Black Hills and past Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Recent stops have included Coon Rapids, Iowa, and Kirksville, Mo.

After pedaling between 40 to 60 miles per day, he's been sleeping at campgrounds. He also visits churches, where he is sometimes offered a shower, a warm meal and a comfortable bed. Strangers have heard of his reason for biking and opened their doors to him or arranged hotel rooms for him. When he rode by public libraries, he stopped to give friends and family updates via his blog, bigrideking.blogspot.com/.

Zarzecki said when she held her dying son in her arms, she knew that Caleb's life was not fully ending because he had touched so many others.

"I knew that Caleb's love would surround us forever. Tom kind of took that and ran with that," she said. "For me to believe that my son had that ripple effect on so many people is just amazing. ... He's making a difference even when he's not here with us."

King's wife, Jennifer King, said she and the couple's two sons, Lucas, 11, and Kellen, 7, are eager to see King roll into their driveway at 9206 Launius in St. Jacob.

"I'm, of course, extremely proud of him and the proud of the reason that he's doing it, because it's in memory of Caleb," she said.

King is expected to arrive in St. Jacob about 3 p.m. Sunday.

"We'll cheer him down the road and he'll probably collapse," Jennifer King said.

The public is invited to join in the welcome home celebration.

"We would like to have as many warm bodies as we can to let him know what he means to us," said Zarzecki, who will join in the celebration with her husband, Jeff, and their two other children, 12-year-old Luke and 10-month-old Bela Cate, who Caleb helped name before he died.

"I just want to let him know that it touched a lot more than our family," Zarzecki said.

Donations to the Caleb Zarzecki Scholarship Foundation can be made at any First Collinsville Bank.