With brain cancer, doctors don’t define stages as they do with other types of cancer because of the dangerous location of the tumor. They do, however, rate it with grades 1 through 4 that refer to the acceleration of the disease. When Katie was diagnosed, she was rated a 4.

Katie underwent radiation, then chemotherapy, but her body was resistant. She was put on trial drugs, which allowed her to live a fairly normal life for the next year or so.

“COVID hit, and that was partially a blessing,” Bedingfield said. “All of my family, we were all together, and we got to spend time with Katie.”

In January 2021, Katie was given six to eight months to live. She died that July. The next month, Bedingfield came to school at The University of Texas at Austin.

It was a completely new space with new people. He was dropped on the Forty Acres with the chance to be a kid again, he said. “Obviously, it was amazing to be there for my sister, but I lost a lot of youth.”

He realized how important it was for him to live out his sister’s legacy. Because of that, Bedingfield decided to apply to UT’s Texas 4000. Students are recruited for an 18-month program in which they are trained to bike 4,000 miles from Austin to Alaska in the summer.

Chris and Mandy Condit, both UT alumni, founded Texas 4000 in 2004 to raise money for cancer research. Chris Condit is a cancer survivor. Texas 4000 gradually grew bigger and became an official nonprofit. Companies such as H-E-B took notice and decided to sponsor the ride.

For the past year or so, Bedingfield has been training and fundraising in preparation for his ride from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska. He said there are three possible routes that students can take, through the Sierra Nevada, the Rockies or the Ozarks. Each route has a meaning and particular significance, and Bedingfield will be riding the third route through the Ozarks.

“The Ozarks go east through something called the cancer belt, which is the southern half of the Mississippi where the rates of cancer are far higher than any other place in the U.S. because of factories in the area that are unregulated and release carcinogens,” he said.

In these communities, Bedingfield said, it is very common to see families with at least one person who is suffering from or has died from cancer. He said this is a part of why he chose this route.

“It’s going to be really hard,” Bedingfield said. “But I’m really excited, too.”

Bedingfield said he looks forward to meeting people from across the country who have a connection and a story related to cancer and how it has made an impact on their lives. He hopes that after his ride he can come back and support future riders in the coming years.

“I think Katie would be really proud,” he said. “I know she can see me doing this. Sometimes I forget, I am so wrapped up in the process, but it really is in her legacy, and I think she’d be really happy that I am doing this. She was very much a giver, and I’m sure she would do something like this herself.”

After months of training, fundraising and preparation, Bedingfield is set to begin his ride on May 25. You can follow along on his Instagram to see his progress.