Riding to remember, riding for a cure
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Leon Wieder’s brown boots brush the golden tops of grass as he rides his horse Mamet along the side of Highway 93 just outside of Missoula. The high afternoon sun beats down on the long sleeves of Wieder’s pink shirt as his white cowboy hat shields his face. Semi-truck trailers and cars fly by at speeds up to 70 miles per hour, as Wieder and Mamet ride beside them at a much slower pace, hoping to make the 18 miles to Gray Wolf Peak Casino in the outskirts of Arlee by early evening.
The 20-year-old Arlee resident has ridden more than 600 miles from Beach, North Dakota to Arlee in honor of his aunt, Lynette Moran, 43, who passed away last July 4 after an eight-year battle with leukemia.
“She (Lynette) was very happy and helpful,” Wieder’s mother and Lynette’s sister Darcy Malatare said. “You can just look at him and he’s just like Lyn, he has that same smile.”
“No words can describe how proud I am,” she added with tears in her eyes.
“Our whole family is close,” Wieder said. He explained his entire family was in Seattle for six months when his aunt was sick. Though his aunt wasn’t really a horse person, Wieder explained he is riding for her and others who battled cancer. The idea to ride across Montana occurred to him one day while driving to Glendive.
“You think of a lot of different stuff when you are riding. You don’t think about just one thing,” Wieder said. “I like riding, it’s soothing.”
Meeting him at Muralt’s Truck Plaza on Highway 93 was the Cutler family of Philipsburg. They know all too well the impact and the importance of Wieder’s horseback ride. Mike Cutler battled leukemia alongside Moran when they were patients at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Mike’s wife Jody became friends with Lynette’s husband, Ernie Moran. Mike’s cancer has been in remission since receiving a stem cell transplant eight years ago.
“It’s great to be able to give back and help Leon and support him,” Jody Cutler said.
When Wieder decided to ride across Montana to honor his aunt and raise money and awareness, he contacted several non-profit organizations, including the Head, Heel and Hope Foundation created by the Cutler family. The foundation hosts team-roping competitions to raise money for children with cancer. A third of the estimated $13,000 that Wieder raised on his trip will go to their foundation. Another third will go to the Tough Enough to Wear Pink Foundation, which rallies the rodeo and western community to fight breast cancer. The final third raised will go to the Montana Cancer Center at St. Patrick’s Hospital in Missoula.
Wearing a pink shirt and cap, Mike and Jody’s daughter Sydney, 11, rides behind Wieder on her horse Splash along with her parents. When she was only 9, Sydney was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, a brain tumor.
Sydney said when she was sick, her horses made her feel better.
“My horse Indy would let me put my head against her shoulder and let me know it’s okay,” Sydney said. “Touching them (her horses) made me feel better because they were alive.”
Now Sydney rides her horses two years after being diagnosed and one year since her tumor was removed using surgery and radiation chemotherapy. The Cutler’s also plan to ride from Evaro to downtown Arlee with Wieder on July 4.
Though Wieder rode most of his journey solo, he was never alone in his efforts.
Many people and businesses sponsored his trip by providing lodging, money and even donated items to his cause.
Bozeman company SCS Wraps donated stickers on his truck and trailer that read “Spur the Cancer out of Montana” to publicize Wieder’s cause and the Livingston Inn in Livingston set him and his family up with lodging. Wieder, his family and his horses, were also provided lodging in Three Forks.
During a guest appearance at the Republican Convention in Butte, Wieder raised another $800 for his cause.
Wieder’s story has touched the lives of many he’s encountered on his ride across the state.
“He is a phenomenal human being,” Celeste Sotola of Basin said. Sotola met Wieder in Columbus at a gas station. She was struck by the rider’s pink shirt and horse and asked him what he was doing. After learning about his efforts, Sotola started to contact businesses and media outlets on his route to inform them of his horseback ride so they could contribute and help his cause.
“My mother had cancer and my grandma died of it,” Sotola said. “Everyone has someone they know who is affected by it.”
Wieder’s family and friends also helped him along his journey as he dodged tornadoes, battled flooding and tried to avoid a few rattlesnakes and badgers.
“We drive ahead of him and go to the next exit and check the road conditions and weather,” his mother said. Malatare said her son tried to average about 20 miles a day. The most miles he rode in a day were 38 and a half.
Wieder started his journey across Montana on horseback on May 17, his aunt’s birthday, and plans to finish his ride by riding from Evaro to downtown Arlee to participate in the annual 4th of July parade.
As Wieder made his way up Evaro Hill, accompanied by the Cutler family, he battled rough weather yet again, but the rain felt good following the heat of the day.
“This is the first thing I have finished and finished well,” Wieder said. “It was a good ride.”
