Los Angeles resident Hannah Conway has been participating in triathlons for the past three years to raise funds for cancer research.
But within the past few months, the cause became nearer and dearer to her heart. In September 2015, her mother was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
Hannah actively trains and participates with Team in Training, an endurance sports program that raises funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, or LLS.
On Saturday, Hannah was training in Long Beach with her team for the Ironman triathlon. She went out to swim in the ocean, and when she came back, her beloved Felt AR 5 bicycle was the only one missing from the group.
Heartbroken, Hannah took to Facebook to express her grievances. She was told to post a video talking about the most challenging thing about the day's practice.
"As you see, I'm not on my bike today," Hannah said in her video. "Because while we were out swimming, my bike was stolen."
Since she's posted the video, Hannah said she's received an overwhelming amount of support.
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Her friends set up a GoFundMe for a new bike and has raised almost $2,000 of the $3,000 goal as of Wednesday morning. People have let Hannah borrow their own bikes so that she could keep training.
But Hannah has a sentimental connection to her bike -- she rode "Maple" for her first Ironman triathlon.
"You spend a lot of time on them, thousands of miles," she said. "It's heartbreaking."
However, Hannah said it's worth having her bike gone if that meant she could reach her fundraising goal.
"My bike was stolen, and it sucks, but I'm healthy," she said. "I was physically capable of riding 90 miles. A year ago, my mom could barely walk from the bed to the bathroom because she was so weak and because of what cancer had done to her body."
Hannah still had $3,500 left to raise one month before the triathlon.
"I may not have my bike, but I have a bike right now, and I will keep training, and I will cross the finish line," she said. "Maybe not by riding my bike, but I will do it for my mom and all the other people who have had these terrible battles and for all of the people who have lost these battles."
