PAW PAW, Mich. (WXMI) — Whenever you ask Mark Linder how he's doing, he always has the same answer.
"Peachy!"
He said it's something he started saying five or 10 years ago.
"I just kind of picked it up along the way," Linder said. "It makes everybody smile when they receive it.”
That kind of joyful attitude must run in the Linder family, shining the most through Mark's son Kevin, the family's "superhero," as they called him.
"He loved super anything superhero related," Mark Linder said. "Just the strength that he showed during his treatments and just kind of the way that he lived his life. He became our superhero.”
At 2, Kevin was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer.
Kelly Linder, Mark's wife, explained briefly what that meant for Kevin.
“He was having trouble walking," she said. "When he finally got diagnosed after six weeks of trying to figure out what was going on, his bone marrow was 90% tumor.”
Kevin fought cancer the best he could but lost that battle at 6 years old. He was the youngest of the Linder's three children.
“Absolutely, brutal." Mark Linder said. "Like words can't even really describe it.”
Kevin passed in 2013 and the Linder family is still finding new ways to honor their son and support the pediatric cancer community.
“I figured, let's do something epic," Mark Linder said. "Let's do something fun. Let's go on an adventure. And I love to ride the bike.”
It's an adventure Mark Linder has fittingly named the Epic Bike Ride.
From the end of May through the end of July, he'll travel the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Alberta, Canada, to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. That's over 2,700 miles and 160,000 feet of elevation.
“I mean, it's like climbing Mount Everest five times," Mark Linder said. "That is going to be probably the hardest part.”
He noted the physical and emotional parallels between mountain biking and caring for a child with cancer.
“There’s a lot of challenges," Mark Linder said. "Especially riding a bike. A lot of uphill, lot of days where you’re not feeling very good or there’s weather like today. You just kind of have to push through that.”
The motivation behind the ride will help provide that push.
Mark Linder is hoping to raise $50,000 to support DC Strong, CureSearch and Make-A-Wish — the three pediatric organizations that helped the Linders through the same struggle.
"It's a healing process for us," Kelly Linder said. "It's a way to show the other families that when the worst happens, you can still get through life. There's still life after the passing of your child.”
Mark Linder plans on documenting as much of the journey as he can through their website. If you would like to follow along or donate to the cause, visit epicbikeride.org.
