Army Veteran, Cancer Survivor Biking 240 Miles to Raise $1M for Disease Research

Joe Bolger hopped on his wheels in 2019, to honor and raise money for his cancer-stricken father and mother-in-law. Now, roughly seven years later and following both of their deaths, he’s hitting the pavement again.

Bolger, 67, of Dayton, Ohio, is a former Army Ranger who in 2019 rode in Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer as part of a 3,000-mile bicycle relay across the United States that raises money for the V Foundation for cancer research. He wore two names on his jersey: his father, battling throat cancer, and his mother-in-law, fighting lymphoma.

His 2019 ride involved cycling from Salt Lake City to Denver. As he put it, “You literally cross the Rocky Mountains.”

“My dad and mother-in-law were struggling, and I just wanted to do something rather than just kind of sitting on the sidelines,” Bolger told Military.com. “I am a cyclist. The very first time I was sitting in a meeting, I had just joined Bristol Myers Squibb [in 2017, as a sales representative] and they were showing a video of the ride that they had done that year, and it just really, really moved me.

“I was like, ‘This is something that I would enjoy doing, and it’s for a good cause. So, I was really lit up by the possibility of doing it. It just pretty much changed my life. Quite honestly, being part of a team, you know the training that goes into it, the camaraderie that you develop.”

He will captain a team of Bristol Myers Squibb colleagues—he’s a sales representative there—from Sept. 25 to 27, riding from Topeka to St. Louis, up to 80 miles a day, part of a 100-plus rider relay from Cannon Beach, Ore. to Long Branch, N.J. Their efforts are hoped to raise $1 million for the V Foundation for Cancer Research. In its 13th year, C2C4C has raised more than $21 million worldwide.

“It’s hard to get picked for this ride,” he told Military.com. “You have to write an essay, you have to fundraise. So, it’s not just like anyone that says, ‘Hey, that looks like fun. Think I’ll give it a shot.'”

This year, Bolger said he applied with one hour to spare. He succumbed to the necessity of churning the pedals, recalling sitting at his desk and thinking, “Gosh darn it, I am going to do this.”

“I didn’t even tell my wife or anything,” he said. “I submitted my application, and I was chosen.”

Not only was Bolger chosen; he was made captain. His team this year is called Endure for a Cure. They’ll be riding from Topeka, Kan, to St. Louis, Mo.

“It’s kind of cool to be, I call it lateral leadership,” he said. “But it’s kind of a neat role because a lot of these people are not hardcore cyclists. … It’s been really fun to watch their journey. We started training back in April. That’s given me a lot of joy, just to be kind of helpful and keep their spirits lifted and all that stuff.”

Riding After His Own Cancer Battle

Today, Bolger’s father and mother-in-law are deceased. He died in 2024 and she died in 2020.

Bolger, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016 after a routine checkup, is hopping on his bike again next month during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Data shows that roughly 1 in 8 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and roughly 6 in 10 cases are found in men 65 and older.

He found his diagnosis during a routine annual physical, with his doctor referring him to a specialist who suggested a biopsy. Bolger said “sure” even though he “had no idea how painful a freaking biopsy can be.”

They took 12 samples from his prostate. A nurse said they came back positive, to which he thought it was a false positive. She said things don’t work that way.

“I went back to talk to my urologist, and he was like, ‘Listen, it’s an aggressive cancer. You’re young. You’re strong. I recommend we just take your prostate out and be done with it,'” Bolger said. “I said, ‘Sounds good to me.’ So, I literally went in, had my prostate removed, spent the night, and was gone the next day.”

But he never thinks of himself as a cancer survivor.

“Watching like what my dad went through and my mother-in-law, those folks are why I ride,” he said. “My dad was a strong, physically large, mentally tough guy, and just watching him, unfortunately, after extensive radiation and chemo, they had to take out his larynx. He had a full laryngectomy.

“I think after that, he was just a completely different man. He was having trouble. He had to eat basically through a tube. It was just very difficult.”

How Military Background Helps Training For the Big Ride

For Bolger, a bike is an escape.

The former Ranger who grew up north of Boston said he didn’t really apply himself as he should have in high school. After he managed to graduate, it led to an in-depth look into his future.

“I knew I just wasn’t ready for college, so I was just thinking, ‘OK, what in the world do I want to do with myself?'” he said. “And I saw a brochure for the Rangers, and I thought, ‘OK, that looks pretty cool. I could really test my metal and see, could I do this? Could I not do this?’

“I always like to joke around and say, “Thank God I didn’t see the advertisement for the SEALs, watching what they go through. But at any rate, I joined the Army.”

He was in Signal Corps Military Occupational Specialties and later went to jump school and graduated. He went to the First Ranger Battalion which at the time was stationed in Fort Stewart. While stationed, he and his colleagues moved to Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah. This encapsulated the time between 1977 and 1981.

He went to Ranger School and got his Ranger Combat Action Badge.

At the time it didn’t seem like the best time in my life, but looking back I really enjoyed it.

He then was selected to go to the John F. Kennedy School of Underwater Operations in Trumbull Point, Key West, Fla., more commonly known as scuba school.

“We were never ever sitting still, we did a lot of training,” he added. “Went to Northern Minnesota in like January for Arctic training, went to Panama to do jungle training. Several stints in the Mojave Desert.

“But when my time was up, I knew I wanted to go back to school.”

He went to Ohio State University, got his undergraduate degree, met his wife, had a family, and went to graduate school. He ultimately became a site coordinator for Veterans Day at the Dayton VA and got involved with a project for Blue Star Moms to help raise funds.

“I think the Rangers really taught me what I was capable of doing if I just put my mind to it, and that’s part of what I think drove me in 2019—and again in 2026—to do something to give back somehow, some way,” he said.

Riding With His Partner

“I’m in shape,” Bolger said. “That’s the good thing.”

Bristol Myers Squibb riders have a training schedule that began at the end of March, beginning of April, and continues every week thereafter. At the time Bolger spoke to Military.com, they recently rode 60 miles on a Saturday, 45 miles another day, and then a four-hour jaunt at roughly 15 miles per hour.

One day when the cyclists rode 60 miles, it was 85 degrees with high humidity. It’s not for the faint of heart to go on level terrain or uphill, working on different speed drills. Distance rides occur on the weekends.

“With the heat and everything, it’s been rather difficult,” he said. “It’s record-breaking heat.”

Bolger also has a special companion rooting for him from right beside his bicycle: his wife.

“My wife actually is insane and is doing this with me,” he said, “Even though I keep telling her, ‘Hey, you don’t have to do this.’ We got caught in three torrential downpours, and in the last four rides, she has gotten three flats.

“Luck has not been on our side the last couple of weeks. But still, I’m very happy to do it. We’re having a good time.”

Asked how his father would feel, Bolger thinks he would be very proud.

“Sons and fathers have very complex relationships, right?” he said. “He was never really the kind of guy that said ‘I love you’ a lot, but I know he loved me for sure. I think he’d be very proud of me and my efforts to raise awareness and funds around this.

“Sometimes when I’m doing some hill work, and I’ve chosen a hill that’s literally too hard for me…I think about him a lot on that hill. And not only him, but my mother-in-law.”

He added that on top of losing family, his real good friend is currently battling lymphoma and is in remission, being on medication the rest of his life.

“I just think about all these folks that are battling cancer, and it just motivates me to play a very small part in the overall story, hoping that we can save more lives eventually,” Bolger said.