Rebecca's Ride concludes, raises funds and awareness for type 1 diabetes research

Date: September 7, 2009
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Family, friends and regional TV and print reporters were on hand when the O'Donnell family rolled in on their bicycles to their favorite spot on Maine's Mount Desert Island. Here at Seal Cove, on this bright, sunny Saturday of Labor Day weekend, the family was completing a 4,400-mile cross-country trip to raise funds and awareness for type 1 diabetes.

Rebecca O'Donnell (left) led the way, appropriate for the epic trip known as "Rebecca's Ride." The Mount Desert Island High School senior, who has type 1 diabetes, was followed by her mother Deb, brother James and father Mike. The four O'Donnells cycled to the edge of the shore to dip their front tires into the Atlantic Ocean, three months after doing the same in the Pacific, in San Francisco Bay on Memorial Day weekend.

To date, the O'Donnells have raised nearly $9,000 for type 1 diabetes research at The Jackson Laboratory, where Deb works as an architectural facilities engineer, and where the laboratory of Professor David Serreze explores the genetic causes of type 1 diabetes.

Coverage of the homecoming was broadcast on WABI-TV and WLBZ-TV, and published in the Bangor Daily News, Bar Harbor Times and Mount Desert Islander.

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Contact(s): Joyce Peterson, 207-288-6058

For information on automatic email delivery of news releases (journalists only), please send an email request for details to news@jax.org. Please address other inquiries to pubinfo@jax.org.

Media Relations, Communications Office
The Jackson Laboratory
600 Main Street
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609-1500
Phone: 207-288-6058 (journalists only)
Main Jackson Laboratory phone: 207-288-6000
Fax: 207-288-6076
Email: news@jax.org