One local man said his longtime habit of biking not only led to a cancer diagnosis, but also got him through it. — June is Men’s Health Month. In addition to prioritizing screenings and appointments, it’s also a good time to get moving!
Exercise is widely regarded as playing an important role in physical and mental wellness.
One local man said his longtime habit of biking not only led to a cancer diagnosis, but also got him through it.
“I’ve always ridden bikes of any kind, everywhere,” John Romanishin said as he unlocked a Bluebike from a Medford station. He and his fiancée Cathy Melnikow have used the Boston bike share system for years. “You could either be in a car and you’re just angry at the world around you. Or you’re on a bicycle, getting a little bit of exercise, usually seeing some sunshine,” Melnikow added.
The couple had already been commuting on Bluebikes for a decade when they stumbled upon an app. It showed all of the system’s docking stations and marked the ones where they’d been. It led the two to develop a challenge. “We’re like, oh, this is an opportunity to explore all the places we haven’t been to yet.”
John and Cathy explored new neighborhoods, always taking the time to stop in the local businesses and take in the surroundings. But biking led to a challenge neither was expecting. “I biked my whole life, and for a long time, my leg just looked a little different,” John explained. In January of 2024. John was diagnosed with a rare type of tumor affecting the fat cells in his muscle. He needed chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and more treatment. But none of it put the brakes on their biking adventures.
“I did a lot of research on what you should do to prepare yourself for all of this. And one of the biggest recommendations was to stay active,” John said. “I had to go to MGH basically every day for almost three months. And conveniently, there’s a new bike path, the Green Line Bike Path, that pretty much goes from where we live straight to MGH.”
So John and Cathy biked to his appointments, with one notable exception. “The day of the big surgery, I was like, I want to bike in. And my doctor was like please, please don’t.”
Bluebikes learned about John and Cathy’s story when they shared an essay with the campaign “Why I Bike Blue”. Boston 25 spoke with Dr. Adam Licurse, the senior medical director at Blue Cross Blue Shield which, sponsors Bluebikes. Licurse is also a primary care physician practicing in Boston. He said any kind of exercise can have huge benefits. “Exercise is, I consider it a miracle drug with head-to-toe benefits. Physical, mental, and emotional,” he said. Licurse said those benefits also extend to anyone experiencing a health challenge. “It’s good for your brain, you sleep better, and your emotional health improves. And when you do it with other people, it improves social connection, which we know is such an important piece of people’s emotional health.”
“We could talk excitedly about these places we’ve been to and the stops we saw and the new places we’ve explored, and it was just such a relief to have this thing that was bringing real joy to us during a time that was really hard,” Cathy said. John and Cathy are now looking ahead to brighter adventures.
They’re getting married this summer, and they have more Bluebike stations to visit. Cathy says they’ve been to more than 86% of them, a number that keeps dropping as new stations pop up.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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