Not even Tanya Johnson could’ve anticipated the emotion she would feel after learning she had an aneurysm: Thankful.
“Everything happens for a reason, and we just have to be grateful,” said Tanya.
That gratitude comes from the fact that her aneurysm is what led doctors to discover she was living with a brain tumor.
She explained, “They thought I had vertigo. They thought I had a migraine issue, and when they finally discovered I had the aneurysm, they were like, ‘You need to come in next week. We have to do brain surgery.”
Tanya reflected on her diagnosis with her son, Ramon Suarez Jr. at the 2025 Ride for Roswell.
Riding as mother and son
Ramon is a Buffalo firefighter, and he did everything in his power to make sure his mom could ride alongside him on Ride Day. He encouraged Tanya to get involved and join the Buffalo Firefighters team. Leading up to Ride Weekend, they pulled her bike out of the garage after it had sat idle for the previous 10 years.
They did the four-mile family route, and, together, they crossed the finish line.
Tanya exclaimed, “I did it! If I can do it, anyone can do it. I fed off of Ramon’s energy, his motivation and encouragement.”
“Volunteers were cheering her on. Other riders were cheering her on. It was special,” added Ramon.
Riding together held incredible meaning. Not only did they ride for Tanya, but Tanya’s mother (Ramon’s grandmother) is also a patient at Roswell Park, battling leukemia. Ride Day happened to fall on her 88th birthday.
The Ride Community
Riders often talk about the significance of the Ride Community: thousands of patients, survivors, caretakers, doctors, nurses and loved ones coming together for a common goal.
For Tanya and Ramon, however, the unity of Ride Weekend was therapeutic in a deeply personal way.
“It was 2021 when my mom had the surgery. It was during COVID, so I wasn’t allowed to be at the hospital. I heard via a phone call. Being away from it, not being able to do anything about it, it was binding,” said Ramon.
Tanya teared up as she thought back to that isolating time.
She explained, “I had to do it by myself, no visitors. I’m glad that I had the support that I did have, and thank goodness I was at a place that was really compassionate. They understood that not only are you going through something traumatic yourself, but you don’t have anyone, no family or friends.”
Even though Tanya and Ramon had to endure that chapter apart from one another, their journey with the Ride is a physical and emotional reminder that — no matter the obstacle — they always have each other.
“At the Ride, you know that you’re not alone. You never know what a person is going through. You never know what someone’s story is,” Tanya said.
The mother-and-son duo plan to return to Ride for Roswell as long as they’re able and continue to raise funds for Roswell Park.
“By doing things like this, where you’re raising money to help benefit people like my mom and others who have cancer to try to help them in some way, that’s why I’m here,” said Ramon. “To share this moment with my mom is pretty special.”
