Our brother, Pittsburgh native Danny Chew, was in a catastrophic bicycle accident on September 4, 2016. Danny suffered a T1-C7 spinal cord injury and is now paralyzed from his chest down.
Danny is an accomplished and widely-recognized member of the cycling world. As an avid competitor, he is a two-time winner and eight-time participant of RAAM (Race Across America). He is also the director of our family-organized Dirty Dozen bike race, an iconic Pittsburgh tradition with a course that covers 13 of the steepest hills in the area. Best known within the cycling community as the “Million Mile Man,” before his accident Danny had completed 780,000 miles toward his lifelong goal of cycling a million miles!
Athletic achievements aside, Danny is a beloved and dedicated son, brother, uncle, friend, and mentor. Living with Asperger’s type 2, he has always inspired everyone around him with his drive and passion. Despite losing a full range of mobility in his hands and arms from the paralysis, he refuses to be defined by his injury and is working tirelessly to return to cycling and mentoring other racers. His goal is to finish his million miles on a hand-cycle. Anyone who knows Danny can attest to his determination and believes his dreams will become realities. But the road to recovery after a spinal cord injury is long and difficult—physically and financially. That’s why we desperately need your help!
As preparations are made for Danny’s immediate and long-term care needs, our family continues to face a tremendous challenge we cannot meet alone. Injury-related medical expenses, rehabilitative services and therapies, specialized equipment, and accessibility needs are extremely costly. Our immediate goal is to finance the necessary renovations to bring Danny home—as you may know, Danny is currently residing with a friend out-of-state until our family home can be modified for wheelchair accessibility.
To help with the financial burden of uninsured expenses, a fundraising campaign has been established in honor of Danny with Help Hope Live, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to help patients and families in need for more than 30 years. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law and are held by Help Hope Live in the Mid-Atlantic Spinal Cord Injury Fund in honor of Danny Chew. Please consider making a donation today.
On behalf of Danny and our family, we are very grateful for your ongoing generosity, encouragement, support, and contributions. Please help us bring our brother back home to Pittsburgh where he can continue to inspire so many others to be the strongest they can be. It’s our time to come together to “pay it forward,” as Danny has done for his 54 years on this planet!
Carol Perezluha, Danny’s sister, [email protected]
Tom Chew, Danny’s brother, [email protected]
