TAMPA, Fla. — A planned Bay area bike ride will help raise money and awareness to improve lung health.

The Cycle for Air Gulf Coast Bike Trek for the American Lung Association is scheduled for Oct. 21. 

The Cycle for Air event is in its 39th year.

Dr. Gaetane Michaud, a pulmonary critical care doctor, said she has professional and personal reasons for participating.

What You Need To Know

  • First Gulf Coast Bike Trek

  • Raises money for education, research, advocacy

  • Cycle for Air celebrate its 39th year

  • Cycle for Air Oct. 21 8 a.m. SPC, Clearwater Campus

"I’ve spent most of my life educating people about respiratory health,” Michaud said. "Very early in my career I saw somebody who was really struggling to breathe and they just couldn’t catch a breath and the look in their eyes when they couldn’t breathe was something that has stayed with me my entire life."

Michaud has practiced at Yale and NYU, as well as USF.

That powerful impression has continued to contribute to a drive to do more to raise awareness in many regards.

Michaud participates in events to help educate about lung disease. Her twin daughters were inspired to help make a difference, too. The family will ride as part of a team they helped create at the girls’ school, Gustave Eiffel Academy in St. Petersburg.

"As a physician, I feel like it’s a social responsibility," she said. "As a parent, I really feel it’s a social responsibility. They understood from a very early age the importance of taking care of other people and the need for help sometimes.

"Fortunately or unfortunately, I actually was sick when they were five and so they got to see a mom stand up against cancer and really push through."

The breast cancer survivor is still pushing to help other patients, like those she has treated. A team of riders getting ready to fund research to help more people find that relief.  

Meanwhile, American Lung Association officials said as many as 42,000 young people in the Bay area are dealing with asthma. Those numbers keep the organization motivated. 

"We’re focusing on pediatric lung health,” said Kristen Niemi, development manager for the American Lung Association.

She said the money raised goes to fund the American Lung Association’s mission for life-saving education, research and advocacy.