WALLINGFORD - Michael D'Amico, of Woodbury, spends his days as a personal-injury lawyer, but whenever he gets the chance he steps out of the office or courtroom to support a cause that has touched his life for decades: breast cancer.

D'Amico joined hundreds of other bikers on a sometimes drizzly Sunday morning at the MountainRidge Resort for the seventh annual Bikers for a Cure ride to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization. Many of the bikers wore pink to show their support.

In the early 1980s, D'Amico's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Then two cousins were diagnosed. At that point, D'Amico, an avid motorcyclist, was contacted by Bikers for a Cure's director, Laurie Hodges, about getting involved with a ride to support breast cancer awareness and research.

"I was more than happy to do something," D'Amico said as he stood in his leather jacket after the ride. "I've been involved since the beginning."

Breast cancer again affected D'Amico when his sister, Carol Carangelo, was diagnosed in 2007. He and his sister were always very close, D'Amico recalls, and he was going to give her whatever support she needed.

"I was with her for all of her treatments. I remember the first time going in, she was pretty nervous and I thought she would have her own room, but no, we were in a room with 10 other people," D'Amico said. "Those people are all heroes. It was amazing. They all had their own stories that would make your heart swell."

Given the family's history with cancer, Carangelo decided not to take any chances and had a double mastectomy. Being a pharmacist, she followed the issue very closely and knew what many of her options were going in.

"She went in for a routine mammogram and they found a calcification. She went for the double mastectomy and they found other tumors in the tissue that had not been originally detected," D'Amico said. "With the kind of cancer it was, by the time it was detected, normally it would have been too late."

His sister has responded well to the surgery and the treatments that followed and is doing wonderfully today, D'Amico said.

Anne Morris, Susan G. Komen for the Cure's executive Director, said that, unlike Carangelo, many women do not know enough about the cancer to make informed decisions, and that is where the ride comes in.

Of all the money raised, 75 percent will stay in the local area, funding education programs and underinsured women to help them have access to the kind of treatment and resources they need, Morris said.

"A lot of women don't understand that early detection is key," Morris said. "You really have to advocate for yourself and you need to be educated."

Over the the past six years, Bikers for a Cure has raised more than $175,000 for the Komen foundation. This year, the weather kept some the bikers home, but Hodges said raising any amount of money for the cause is considered a success.

Morris said that, by the end of the year, nearly 3,000 women in Connecticut will be diagnosed with breast cancer and that Connecticut has the fifth-highest rate of breast cancer in the nation, making education here all that much more important.

Like D'Amico, many of the other riders have had someone close to them diagnosed with breast cancer, prompting them to come out for the ride.

"We have friends who are cancer survivors and it's a good chance to get out and ride with a good group of people," said Phil Williams, of Meriden. "Life is too short - anything you can do for cancer research."

Hector Pacheco, of Hartford, stood around talking with other bikers, from Windsor and East Hampton, as they put on their rain gear.

"Rain or shine, I'll show up. I've done this the past three years. A good friend of mine's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and I'll do what I can to support them," Pacheco said.

D'Amico had a few friends who were leery about showing up after seeing the forecast, but he was able to convince them.

"If my sister can go through chemotherapy, then we can get a little wet," D'Amico said to his friends.

After the ride, the bikers sat down for a buffet lunch while listening to music from the band Drift, which volunteered to play at the event. The rest of the afternoon was filled with drawings, a bike show and browsing through the offerings of vendors.

rrathsack@record-journal.com

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