At Your Service: Mike Geissler

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Mike Geissler

Updated: March 21, 2012 8:01AM

Occupation: founder, Faces of Cancer Racing; shipper at I/N Kote/Arcelor Mittal, New Carlisle

Online: www.facebook.com/FacesofCancerRacing, FacesofCancerRacing@gmail.com

Residence: Michigan City

Family: wife, Brendilyn; daughters Kayla, 21, Shaina, 19; son, Jacob, 14

What is the Faces of Cancer organization? “Faces of Cancer is currently a BMX race team. We’re trying to get out into different forms of racing. Right now we’re a BMX team that uses racing to get cancer information and cancer awareness out to the society that normally wouldn’t think about cancer. Most everybody thinks ‘Well, it’s not going to happen to me.’ It’s that person that does think that it’s ‘not going to happen to me’ that it does happen to them, because they don’t go in and get their checks and live the lifestyle that keeps them from getting cancer: going out in the sun without sunblock, using tobacco products, etc. So what we do is in all of our races we set up a table with information that people can come by (and look at). The American Cancer Society has provided that to us.”

When was the group founded and was there someone who was the specific motivation for it? “I believe it was last June. What happened is we’d been racing BMX for several years with my son and myself — it’s pretty much the whole family raced at one time. And with one of the families at the track, Allison Elo, a 34-year-old mother of five, was last June diagnosed with breast cancer. When I read that on Facebook it hit me; I’ve got lots of family that have been affected (by cancer). I’ve got several friends that have died from cancer, so I’ve been touched with cancer before. I decided to go ahead and create Faces of Cancer Racing.”

How is Allison doing? “She was diagnosed in June, and about a month later, she had her (surgeries). They went in and found cancer … so they went ahead and did chemo. They did all of that and everything is on-track and going good with that. She (recently) started her radiation. There’s quite a few treatments she’s going to have to do with that. Right now, she’s doing unbelievable. She’s like one of my heroes. She brings her five kids to the track just about every week. She does things with her kids on these bikes that most men won’t do. What she does and what she’s going through just impresses me.”

What’s ahead for your racing team? “We are going to be racing in the USA BMX. At the Nationals, they have three different levels of teams: trophy, bike shop and factory. We’ll be racing under bike shop. We have to register a roster. Basically we’re going to go around the nation — mostly on the East Coast and Middle America, and some of us may go out to Arizona or California. We’re trying to get this message of get your cancer screenings done. Every rider I have on my team has been personally affected with cancer. It’s amazing that these kids are seeing more of the sense of being worth something — not just being out there for themselves — but, ‘Hey, we’re making a difference.’ Hopefully we can change somebody else’s family’s outcome. I’d like to grow into other sports and be a nationally known source to help those with cancer, and honor those that have been affected by cancer.”

— Compiled by Anthony D. Alonzo, Post-Tribune correspondent