The Episcopal Diocese of Ohio

Eight-year old Connor Tullis loves to ride his bike. So much so that he suggested to his dad, Michael, and his brother, Keenan, 10, that they undertake a long ride this summer. It was his dad’s idea that they do more than just ride their bikes. Maybe they could use their ride to bring attention to something really important.

The idea developed while they were on a 37-mile bicycle ride to visit close friends whose mother had died from cancer. Before her death, she had been Connor's beloved nursery school teacher at St. Mark’s, Toledo, where the family attends church.

The Tullis boys and their dad decided to chart out something much more ambitious: a ride across Michigan of over 200 miles from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie. Connor and Kennan want to stop children from losing their parents, friends, and loved ones to cancer, so they are using the ride to fight cancer, and they’d like others to join them.

From start to finish, each wheel of the Tullis boys’ bikes will turn more than 150,000 times. Together, their wheels will revolve nearly a million times, and they hope that each rotation of their bicycles’ wheels lead toward a cure for cancer. Given this, they’ve decided to call their effort “Many Revolutions.” The boys are making presentations to schools, churches, Cub Scout groups, politicians, and service organizations. Their 5- to 7-minute talk covers cancer statistics, including the number of people who are affected by cancer through family, close friends, and loved ones. And they offer the audience, especially children, an opportunity to do something about cancer. They are also getting coverage on the web, in newspapers, and on television.

Connor hopes to reach 50,000 people with his family’s message and to raise $25,000 for several organizations. He’s chosen Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer, The Lance Armstrong Foundation, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and Give Kids the World (a wish granting organization benefiting children with terminal disease) as beneficiaries.

Connor will soon have his own website and blog at www.manyrevolutions.com. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or at 1-734-735-3196. Donations can be sent to “The MACC Fund, Inc, and mailed to Many Revolutions, c/o Connor Tullis, P.O. Box 1425, Monroe, Michigan 48161.