Mothers’ Day Motorcycle Ride to Raise Awareness for Lung Disease After Mother’s Death

Will Tucker had never ridden a motorcycle prior to purchasing his ‘Black Beauty’ steed.

But in an effort to raise funds and awareness for interstitial lung disease, Tucker began a crowdfunding social media campaign to travel back to Crofton, Maryland, where he will celebrate his first Mother’s Day without his mum.

(All images taken from Breathe For Mom)

Tucker’s mother passed away in March from a rare lung disease called Acute Interstitial Pneumonitis (AIP). The deadly disease is still considered a mystery today - no one knows where it comes from, no one knows how to treat it, and there is no cure.

In an effort to change that, Tucker will embark on a journey halfway across the country with his canine companion, McKenzie, in an attempt to raise funds and awareness for AIP.

To prepare for the 24,140 km journey, Tucker has taken a full motorcycle safety class, is fully endorsed and has also taken his vehicle - a newly acquired 1981 Honda GoldWing GL 1100 with a Vetter sidecar - in for every maintenance it possibly needs.

From the journey so far, Tucker had learnt a lot about himself and the power of love.

“Just take the time to appreciate everyone that you have in your lives,” Tucker said in an interview with WJLA News. “Whether it’s your mom or your dad or your family or whoever it is, take the time to love and appreciate them.”

To keep yourself updated on Tucker’s motorcycle journey, visit his official website Breathe for Mom.

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AIP is a lung disease that “begins to put holes in your lungs”, and the body will attempt to repair them by building scar tissue in place of the lung tissue that used to be there. The disease will continue to rip holes into the lungs, and eventually there is so much scar tissue built up that the afflicted can no longer breathe by themselves.

Currently, the only real attempts to delay the disease is to either pump steroids into the body or to get a lung transplant - although that allegedly only guarantees about a 50% chance at survival.

Interstitial lung diseases as a whole are extremely rare, yet they can hit anyone at anytime. The most terrifying thing is that there is only about a 30% chance of surviving the disease, and if any attempt at treatment is not successful the disease will take over a completely healthy body and become deadly in about 3-6 weeks.

Although Tucker “may not single-handedly end any diseases”, he promises to have every dollar raised to go towards interstitial lung awareness and research towards preventing deadly lung diseases.