FA Patient and Film Star Kyle Bryant Rides for 4th Annual rideATAXIA

The Friedrich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA), a non-profit organization that supports scientific research aimed at finding treatments and a cure for FA, will be the benefactor of charity biking event rideATAXIA, which will feature biking icon and star of the movie “The Ataxian“, Kyle Bryant. The 4th year of RideATAXIA will be held at Channahon Central Park in Chicago this July 19th, 2015, starting 7:30 a.m. Outback Steakhouse is sponsoring the ride-for-a-cause, which will offer bikers a chance to participate in either a 4-, 12-, 32-, or 52-mile course along scenic country routes, and will welcome ride finishers with post-ride meals together with Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and Bonefish Grill.

Since Bryant founded rideATAXIA 8 years ago, the organization has successfully boosted awareness on this rare inherited neurodegenerative disease, and raised $3 million to back ongoing and developing research projects in Dallas, Northern California, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Orlando. Come July 25, Bryant will be riding to the highest-paved road in America at Mt. Evans in Denver, Colorado during the Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans Hill Climb. Read more about the event here.

Everyone is encouraged to join or donate to this upcoming fundraiser. The cycling fee for regular participants is $45, and $25 for reduced price cyclists (those donating at least $200). Fees increase by $5 beyond June 20, 2014, and by $10 if you choose to register on the day of the event.

Bryant’s “The Ataxian” had its sold-out world premier last Saturday, June 6, 2015 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood, California. The documentary film records his personal journey to becoming a national FA spokesperson, beginning with his diagnosis to his legendary completion of the Race Across America (RAAM) in 9 days, and won the Audience Award for Feature Documentary at Dances With Films 18.

In an earlier report on Friedreich’s Ataxia, researchers at Hacettepe University and Maltepe University in Turkey recently reported that Friedreich’s ataxia patients experience hair alterations. The study was published in the journal Microscopy Research and Technique and is entitled “Ultra-structural hair alterations in Friedreich’s ataxia: A scanning electron microscopic investigation”. Researchers investigated for the first time ultra-structural alterations in the hair of four Friedreich’s ataxia patients at different stages of the disease and two carriers.