GVSU alumna bikes across country

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- It’s quite remarkable that Lee Anne Barry can ride a bicycle at all, let alone bike cross-country to raise money and awareness for brain injury prevention.

Barry, a 1990 graduate of Grand Valley State University, was 5 when she was in a car accident and suffered severe brain trauma. She underwent successful brain surgery as a teenager and is now an advocate for brain injury prevention.

For four years, Barry and her husband, Ben, have biked cross-country on a tour called the BIG Ride: Brain Injury’s Greatest Journey. As they pick up day bikers along the way, BIG riders educate schools, youth groups and church groups about helmet safety and brain injury prevention.

The BIG Ride will stop in Grand Rapids on Tuesday, September 25, at noon at GVSU’s Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, 301 Michigan St. NE, to speak to a physical therapy class in room 209. Media members are welcome to attend the presentation and speak to Barry. She will talk to the graduate students in Cathy Harro’s class about their future roles as healthcare professionals in preventing brain injuries.

The 2007 BIG Ride started September 7 in Great Falls, Montana. It’s scheduled to end October 21 in Columbia, South Carolina. Eighty percent of funds raised during the ride are given to prevention programs in that state, 20 percent goes to the Brain Injury Association of America.