David Spangler can’t ride in Pelotonia.

“I can’t be out in the sun like that,” he said. “All that sunlight and the heat would kick off my graft versus host disease (GVHD),” said the Shelby, Ohio resident – who began his cancer journey in 2006.

Despite his daily dealings with GVHD, Dave, 67, is upbeat and optimistic, lives a full life – and is very much part of the Pelotonia community. This will be his fourth year as a Virtual Rider – and he raised more than $6,000 in 2015.

He’s all in for a simple reason: “Dr. Porcu saved my life,” Dave said of Pierluigi Porcu of the James. “I can’t ride, but heard about Virtual Riders and said ‘I can do that.’ I wanted to pay it back and forward, to the James and to Dr. Porcu and to (Dr. Steven Devine, a bone marrow transplant specialist at the James).”

While Dave’s journey is chock full of courage, he gets a bit uncomfortable when you start tossing the “heroic” or “inspirational” words in his direction.

“You just handle it,” he said of the ups and downs of his 10-year battle. “When the next thing comes up, you do what you have to do, you don’t have any other choice.”

Things began happening the week before Thanksgiving in 2006, when his doctor detected two lumps in Dave’s groin. A biopsy revealed he had T-Cell Lymphoma, a rare form of lymphoma, which is a blood cancer.

“My oncologist told me there was no (current) treatment that would lead to a cure,” Dave said. “He knew of three clinical trials, one in Germany, one in Maryland, one at the James.”

Dave met with Dr. Porcu.

“He walked into the room and he told us there was hope,” Dave said.

The clinical trials involved five types of chemotherapy drugs, administered at the same time. The treatments worked, Dave went into remission. But in the fall of 2008, Dr. Porcu discovered “that it had come back, that the lymphoma was in my bone marrow and liver,” Dave said.

The next step was a bone marrow transplant. None of Dave’s relatives was a match, but a matching donor was found in Germany. The subsequent transplant eliminated Dave’s cancer, but “when you have an unrelated donor, you have a much greater chance of side effects,” he said. “I have chronic graft versus host disease, which is the body trying to reject those cells. I lost my tear glands and salivary glands, it affected my skin and nails and ears, attacked my kidneys. It seems as though there’s always something going on, some side effect.”

And yet, Dave – a retired elementary school teacher – keeps going and remains positive.

“I have a normal life, as much as possible, and can do most anything I want to do,” he said, adding this includes spending lots of time with his family.

In addition to the money raises for Pelotonia as a Virtual Rider, Dave helps organize the annual Shelby Cancer Rally, which has raised more than $125,000 for Pelotonia and Livestrong.

“This year we are also going to have a Bone Marrow Registry to sign up possible donors, which truly excites me as a stem-cell transplant patient,” Dave said of the May 15 event. A bone marrow transplant and stem cell transplant are similar.

Dave has some fundraising advice we can all use: “Make (your pitch) as personal as you can. I tell people how the James saved my life twice. People want to help, you just have to ask. Everyone’s been touched by cancer.”