I have watched the journey from afar and I have endured the journey up close.

It’s the cancer journey, when suddenly, randomly, the pronouncement is made about an awful disease and a circle of lives is changed.

I took it more than 16 years ago when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s a survivor to this day.

But the journey seems all the more harrowing when the cancer affects a child. That’s why I’m so impressed with how Benjamin Moore is making that journey.

Benjamin, 17, began it nine months ago when his youngest brother, Andrew, 9, was diagnosed with malignant sarcoma, a rare and aggressive type of cancer. They are the sons of Scott and Andrea Moore.

“When we found out, it was very traumatizing, but it brought our family together,” Benjamin said. “No one should have to go through this awful trauma.”

While his kid brother began treatment, Benjamin, who will be a senior at Midway High School next year, began to learn about the disease.

One disconcerting component of sarcoma, he learned, is that with more than 60 different forms, all relatively rare, the numbers just aren’t there to attract widespread attention for funding.

That’s when he learned from his father about the Team Sarcoma Initiative, an international awareness event that drew 8,000 participants worldwide last year.

Kindred spirits

He reached out to the event’s organizers, Bruce and Beverly Shriver, who lost their daughter, 37, to a different type of sarcoma more than four years ago.

As their daughter battled the disease, she announced she wanted to take a multi-day bicycle ride, Bruce Shriver said.

From that was born the Team Sarcoma Initiative. It has raised more than $1.5 million since 2003 for sarcoma research.

“He’s been an absolute delight to work with,” Bruce Shriver said of Benjamin. “He’s a polite young fellow. He doesn’t come across forcefully, but there is nothing equivocating about him.”

Although Benjamin had no experience at major event planning, he has spent the last four months organizing a 5-kilometer run and walk, with a 1-kilometer fun run.

All of it is to raise money for research.

His event is scheduled for July 18 and will begin at the Waco Suspension Bridge.

It coincides with a seven-day bike ride from Cumberland, Md., to Washington, D.C., to raise sarcoma awareness and raise research money, said Shriver, co-founder of the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative.

Besides planning one of 70 such events worldwide, Benjamin has also had to make time for school, athletics (he’s on the Midway swim team) and work as a lifeguard.

He’s also had to contend with his brother’s fight.

“Through our time between M.D. Anderson (Cancer Center) and Scott & White (Children’s Hospital), you get a sense of the scope for how much damage cancer does to a family,” Benjamin said.

Still, Benjamin says his brother is excited about the July 18 event, especially since Benjamin threw in a unique component to the fun run: It will be led by a cast of super hero characters.

For more information about the event, go to www.active.com and type in the keyword “superhero.”

Carlos Sanchez’s column appears Sunday. You may contact him at 757-5703. E-mail: csanchez@wacotrib.com.