Kidney disease sufferer bikes from Oregon to Ocean City to raise awareness
OCEAN CITY — Will Kleemeier pedaled almost 3,500 miles across the country this year to raise awareness of the life-threatening kidney disease he is facing.
He began his journey in Oregon in June, was interrupted for a few months by a bike accident in Chicago in late July that broke his elbow and then, just before he was about to arrive in Ocean City in October, a COVID-19 infection slowed him down again.
None of it stopped him from completing his trek.
The 58-year-old from New Hope, Pa., finally made it to the shore a few weeks ago, stopping by the beach to dip his bike into the Atlantic Ocean and gathering with supporters at The Scarborough Inn.
“I’ve always wanted to bike across the country. Just a couple years ago I started sharing my PKD story with others and I thought it would just be a continuation of sharing my story and also doing a bike ride where I can actually meet people along the way in small towns,” Kleemeier said.
He wanted to finish the ride in Ocean City.
“As a child, Ocean City was always our destination. When we would go the beach, it was always Ocean City, New Jersey. It’s nostalgic. It’s a great little town and it’s not that far from home,” Kleemeier said.
He is living with the life-threatening genetic condition PKD — polycystic kidney disease — which is thus-far incurable. His younger son, Andrew, was diagnosed with PKD three years ago when he was 12.
Kleemeier, who grew up near Reading in rural Berks County, Pa., was diagnosed with PKD in 2004 when he was 40 years old, after his mother informed him and his siblings she had the disease.
After she died in 2007 from end-stage kidney failure, he learned a cousin had already had two kidney transplants and an aunt and uncle were both on kidney dialysis.
Still, he thought he had more time.
In 2017, he said, his health changed dramatically and he began experiencing PKD symptoms including declining kidney function, enlarged kidneys, headaches and increased abdomen size because of swollen kidneys. Three years ago, he began learning about other families going through PKD and he wanted to do something to raise awareness and raise money for research.
He decided to combine those missions with his love of bicycling.
Kleemeier and his son Patrick, who had just graduated from high school, drove out to Seaside, Oregon, to begin the journey in June.
Patrick was his support driver until Chicago. Kleemeier took a northern route across the United States, traveling through Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin before hitting Illinois.
From there it was through Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania before making it to America’s Greatest Family Resort.
He said he used the Venture Cycling Association, which has 50,000 miles of safe bike routes across the country.
“I did a compilation of their routes. Not having biked across the country before, I wanted to make sure it was safe. And it wound up taking me through small and large cities,” he said.
“In Chicago I actually crashed and broke my elbow July 27. And then I needed to heal. So, it took eight weeks to recover and for my health care provider to give me the green light, to tell me, ‘Yes, you can ride again,’ and that’s when I started up againt Sept. 25, from where I crashed in Chicago,” he said.
Slated to arrive in Ocean City in late October, the COVID infection delayed him another month.
“I’m a slow rider. I average maybe 75 miles a day, but when I stop at restaurants along the way for lunch and dinner, I have a PKD T-shirt or my biking kit and that really opens up the opportunity for people to approach me to ask, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ And then we have a regular conversation,” he said.
He also did newspaper, TV and radio interviews along the way.
“That’s really how I’m raising awareness,” he said.
Kleemeier said a lot of people don’t really talk about the disease or know about it, but he also found others who do.
“All along the route I’ve met people who either someone in their family has it or they know someone who has it and then we’re just able to talk at length of my experience or their experience,” he said.
While breaking his elbow was his worst experience, he did face some difficult times, including riding into headwinds for four days straight going across North Dakota — “it seems like you’re standing still — and biking “for four solid days” through the remnants of Hurricane Ian from St. Clairsville, Ohio to Pittsburgh and points east.
He said one fantastic experience was in St. Clairsville.
“Prior to me stopping there, a sixth-grade teacher reached out to me and asked if he could meet with me because his sixth-grade class was following my journey,” Kleemeier said. “He was using it as a teaching tool not just about the disease and myself, but also about geography, teaching the kids about everywhere I stopped in the country.”
The students, he said, “actually made cards for me, that I’m just going to cherish for the rest of my life. The more I share that, it brings a tear to my eye because it’s just so fantastic.
“It’s experiences like that. Big or small. If I’ve just impacted one or two people along the way to either get checked or to understand more about PKD, I’m really happy about that,” he said.
And what’s the feeling to be finished?
“Extremely tired,” he said with a big laugh. “It’s going to be an accomplishment of a lifetime and I’ll probably have to plan something else. I don’t plan on doing a big biking trip again, but I do plan to continue to share my story.”
To learn more about Kleemeier and PKD, visit pedalingforkidneydisease.org. One hundred percent of donations during his cross-country trek went directly to the PKD Foundation, the only organization dedicated to finding treatments and a cure for polycystic kidney disease. To support the cause, visit the site and click the “donate” button. He has raised more than $50,000 so far.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
Photo by Dan Myers Photography