Gary Bonacker
Bend, Oregon

I am 53years old. Raced bikes from 1969-1988. I own a bicycle and nordic ski shop. Been in business 35 years. Worked off and on with Campagnolo as a race mechanic in the 80's and 90's. I am married to Susan. The love of my life. Have 1 child, Frankie. She is the other love of my life. I still love to ride bikes, fly fish, garden, nordic ski. I have lived in Bend for 35 years. We are five minutes from the Deschutes river, mountain bike trails and low traffic roads. My latest undertaking is putting on the Tour des Chutes Bike ride. We are a fund raiser for LAF and for St. Charles Cancer Center here in Bend. We have raised $90,000 in the last 2 years. It is a lot of work, but it keeps me focused on things that are important to me.

Cancer Overview:

General Cancer Type: Brain

Specific Cancer Type: Oligodendroglioma

Treatment Summary:
I had a crainiotomy in December of 2003. The tumor is in my Broca area so they could not remove it all. They removed about 60%. I was awake during my surgery and looked at slides telling the surgeon what I saw. If I slured or did not recognize the slide, they did not remove that part of the tumor. We had an option to do radiation, but chose not to. That may come at some point as well as chemo. I am a good candidate for chemo as I have the right genes. I still have seizures and we are working on different drugs to make them fewer. I can't drive a car now, so I ride my bike. Main drag is in the Winter as I don't get a chance to ski as much.

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