Propelled by Love, Brothers Pedal to Aid a Quest for a Cure

As the White children started raising their own families, much of the clan migrated from Prince George's to St. Mary's. All those police connections sometimes come up in Daniel's job as a St. Mary's County prosecutor.

"No conflict at all," Daniel once told a judge. "We would both like to see the defendant in jail for as long as possible."

Joseph, Daniel and Kelly White's second child, seemed healthy until he was 4. Then he started losing weight and constantly getting up in the middle of the night to drink water. One night, his parents woke to find Joseph leaning over a bathroom sink, funneling water from his open hands into his parched mouth.

Extreme thirst is a warning sign of juvenile diabetes, as the Whites would quickly learn in a specialist's office at Children's Hospital in Washington. With no cure for diabetes, Joseph's life expectancy had been cut by as many as 20 years.

Last year, when Daniel heard about the bike-a-thon, which is in five locations, he bought a mountain-style bike and quickly tried to get ready for a ride in Asheville, N.C.

After he wiped out on a practice run, he had to go into court with a big scar on his face, drawing the attention of Circuit Court Judge C. Clarke Raley. "I know Lance Armstrong," Daniel recalled Raley telling him, "and you're no Lance Armstrong."

In Ashville, Daniel finished in the last group, under falling rain. The ride coordinator told him he'd never seen a wider spread between desire and ability.

Inside their Leonardtown home, his parents adjusted to measuring out Joseph's meals and snacks. A McDonald's chicken nugget has 3 carbs, they learned, and a Chick-fil-A nugget has 1.5.

Their siblings help them, taking care of their children when they took Joseph to the hospital and taking turns looking after Joseph. They all noted how quickly he accepted things.

For the ride this year, Daniel vowed to be better prepared. With more time to prepare, his brothers quickly fell in line.

The brothers' competitiveness hasn't waned. When several of them gather for Thanksgiving, they stand on a scale before and after eating -- the winner being the one with most displacement.

On snow ski trips, the five still race to the bottom. In the summer, on lakes, they tie five inner tubes to the back of a boat and see who can stay on the longest, while the driver jerks the boat to try to knock them off.

Six years ago, Daniel's jaw collided with Mike's knee. The two cracks required his mouth to be wired shut until it healed. A lawyer who finally can't talk, his brothers told him.

As the bike-a-thon approaches, the five are at various levels of training. Some haven't gone on any single rides of more than 40 miles. On June 23, they all expect to make 102 miles, if only to avoid a year's worth of insults. (Their donations aren't contingent on them finishing all 102 miles.)

As for Joseph, based in part on how active his parents and uncles have been in the bike-a-thon, he recently was named the state's youth ambassador for the ride. On Thursday, he was introduced to both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly, with Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) at one point placing him on top of his desk, to a loud ovation.

Back home, Joseph's private comments draw similar attention. Around Easter, while his father was giving him a shot, Joseph said he didn't like having diabetes.

"But there is a kid in my class who doesn't have any brothers or sisters," Joseph said, "and I'd rather have this."

For information about contributing to the Ride to Cure Diabetes, call 410-823-0073 or visithttp://www.jdrf.org.