Montgomery County man survives cancer, bikes 3,400 miles for charity

After surviving non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and undergoing a heart transplant, a Montgomery County man biked 3,400 miles coast to coast - all to raise money for a good cause.

There was a point in Derek Fitzgerald's life when he wasn't sure that he'd wake up to see another day.

The Harleysville man had already beaten non-Hodgkins Lymphoma but it came at a cost.

"The chemotherapy damaged my heart. I survived but my heart did not. In the final days, before I received my heart transplant, I was practically a vegetable. I could no longer think straight, I couldn't lift my head," said Fitzgerald.

Now 4 and a 1/2 years later, he's biking across the country.

On the beach in Santa Monica, California 45 days ago, Fitzgerald and David Madden, of Lansdale, dipped the back wheels of their bicycles in the Pacific Ocean.

They've ridden, without a single day of rest, ever since.

"Visiting the Grand Canyon, going through Monument Valley, going through Sedona, over the Rocky Mountains on Wolf Creek Pass at 10,857 feet," said Madden.

This week they finally made it back to Philadelphia and got a heroes' sendoff for the final leg of their journey from the staff at Penn Medicine, where Fitzgerald was treated.

And then, they arrived in Avalon, New Jersey to finish, what they started.

In total, they biked 3,400 miles to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and awareness for heart disease.

Fitzgerald is proof that anyone can come a long way, both literally and figuratively, and it all begins with a single step.

"Over time those small steps they add up and pretty soon you ride from coast to coast, you do an Ironman, you get up out of bed - it doesn't matter, it's all the same thing, just keep moving forward," said Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald will be competing in the World Championships of Ironman in Hawaii later this year in October to raise money to fight cancer.

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