Although Kevin Meister grew up in Brunswick, Ohio, a suburban town just south of Cleveland, it was during his time living in Los Angeles that he caught the bug for fundraising for a worthy cause. A friend encouraged him to join the AIDS benefit LifeCycle ride in 2009, and he rode from San Francisco to Los Angeles, raising $5,000 for the event. Realizing he could use activity to benefit others, he was hooked.
Meister continued to participate in various 5K and 10K charity runs to focus on his health while also giving back.
But in 2007, life took a turn when Meister’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“She called me and told me, ‘I have breast cancer.’” he recalls. “She handled it really well, and she was a real trouper about it. I was really impressed because she would undergo radiation and chemo, and then she would go to work every day.”
After two years of therapy, her cancer was in remission and the family felt relieved.
In 2015, after weeks of severe stomach pain and repeated ER visits, Meister learned he had colon cancer. A blockage in his intestine forced emergency surgery, followed by chemotherapy. By the end of that year, he had finished treatment and began the lengthy process of recovery and regular follow-ups.
Just two years later, a phone call from Meister’s brother revealed that their mother’s cancer had returned and had spread aggressively. She passed away that same year.
Meister’s life path eventually led him back to Northeast Ohio in 2022, where he now lives with his wife, Sandra. Upon his return and after experiencing both his mom’s cancer diagnosis and his own, he wanted to find another way to fundraise for charity through activity. That’s when he learned about VeloSano.
“My wife was working at a wine bar in Ohio City and the owner, Jill Davis, had a VeloSano Bike to Cure team called Team Velo Vino,” he says. I’ve been riding on the team for the past three years.”
Meister’s 50-mile ride on Bike to Cure weekend was especially meaningful this year, as his team founder, Davis, passed away from cancer in 2025.
He says having an event like Bike to Cure and the opportunity to use cycling to further progress towards a cure is powerful and meaningful as a survivor and as someone whose family has been deeply impacted by cancer. He also believes that finding ways to make cancer treatments easier for patients is just as important as finding a cure.
“It feels great to be able to get out there and exhaust myself for a day to help earn some money so that maybe at some point, hopefully treatment will be as simple as a pill that people have to take, or we’ll be able to make it so that no one gets cancer in the first place,” Meister says.
As he continues to fundraise following Bike to Cure weekend, he encourages people, especially men, to never ignore any problematic symptoms with their health.
“You shouldn’t be embarrassed to talk about your health with your doctor, no matter how embarrassing the problem seems to be,” he says. “Early detection saves lives, and regular checkups, colonoscopies and just paying attention are critical—cancer isn’t always a death sentence if it’s caught early.”
Mesiter is determined to keep fundraising and riding to support cancer research at Cleveland Clinic and hopefully ease the journey for future patients. You can read more about his story and donate to his fundraising efforts here:
100% For The Cure
