Her Cycle of Care

Terri Harb trained every day for a month in preparation for the hundred-mile “bikeathon.” The bikeathon was to raise funds for multiple sclerosis victims like Terri’s roommate, Joanne Murray.

Terri’s friends were concerned about her taking the rigorous bike trip and tried to talk her out of it. Terri herself has considerable physical limitations caused by the effects of encephalitis, which she contracted at five years of age, leaving her with a slowness of coordination.

Despite this limitation Terri’s love for her wheelchair-bound roommate urged her on, and she pedaled seven miles to work every day on her new bike to prepare herself for the bikeathon. In October 1989, when the bikeathon was held, Terri rode 100.3 miles along with some 1,200 other cyclists and raised approximately $7,000 to help find a cure for multiple sclerosis. Because of her own condition, Terri was unable to keep pace with the other cyclists, so she had an escort vehicle behind her all the way. The driver of that vehicle was none other than her roommate, Joanne, in her specially equipped van.

The first to pull out and the last to arrive at each rest stop, Terri was worn thin when she arrived for the night at the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station, where she, Joanne, and the other participants stayed overnight. The next day, Terri persisted and arrived at the finish line in San Diego exultant. “I did it!” she cried out. “No one thought I could do it, and I did it!”

Terri has now participated a second time in the M.S. bikeathon. But because of Joanne’s degenerating condition, her roommate could not accompany her in the support vehicle this time. Besides caring for Joanne, which is now a full-time labor of love, Terri has worked as a cashier at the Fountain Valley Deseret Industries store and has attended Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana, California. She also serves as assistant librarian in the Santa Ana Third Ward.

Whenever visitors come away from seeing Terri and Joanne, they comment on how vivacious and uplifting both women are. Whether she’s on a bikeathon or fixing a meal, Terri says, “I love Joanne, and I love being my sister’s keeper.”—Lila Hansen, La Canada, California

Terri Harb has participated in two bikeathons for multiple sclerosis, with help from her roommate, Joanne Murray, who suffers from M.S. (Photo by Jerry Garns.)