We we ride: Vicki's mom

Tony and Vicki Williams are riding with the Mashers for the second time. Last year, injuries kept them from riding with us. This photo is from the start of Bike MS in 2006 when we rode from Lake Pleasant to Parker. Here is Vicki's story and another reason why we ride. Please support the Mashers this year by going to our website and click on "make donation."

Maria Antonie Bayer is the woman who made a life-changing decision for me. She is the biological mother who gave me a better life in 1968 by giving me to my family. As a single woman in Germany in the late '60's, pregnant with her second mixed-race child, she decided to give me the best gift of all-a future. When she was diagnosed with MS in 1996, she prayed that my sister and I would search for her and find her before MS took away her mobility or her life.

Her wish came true when I became pregnant with my own second daughter. I began my search in November of 1996 and we met for the first time on February 8, 1997, when I was almost 4 months pregnant. Maria was able to see my children and my sister's children many times over the next few years. Her MS affected her ability to walk at times, and her ability to articulate, but it never stopped her from caring for her animals (a few horses and too many dogs and cats to number) and her ranch outside Las Vegas. She was able to bring us together many times over the years with her other children, her sister's family, and her mother (who still lives in Germany).

When she passed away in January of 2008 at the age of sixty-one, we had enjoyed a friendship and love for ten years that I feel blessed to have enjoyed.