Bike run will honor late Rostraver man

By TAYLOR BROWN

tbrown@yourmvi.com

Friends, family and strangers will ride alongside each other Sunday in memory of John V. Hoye Jr.

The annual Bikers Helping Others Bike Run, held each summer, helps the nonprofit organization raise money to fulfill its mission of generosity and kindness to those who need it most. 

Hoye, a Rostraver Township resident, lost his battle with stage 4 gliolastoma multiforme, a form of brain cancer, Aug. 17, 2019.

For his wife, Brenda Lee Hoye, along with his family and friends, losing their favorite “big guy” was the day their lives changed forever.

John Hoye was diagnosed Oct. 10, 2018, about one month after their first wedding anniversary. 

He was sent to Jefferson Hospital from Med Express after an abnormal EKG.

When an exam showed no irregularities, more tests were completed and a CT revealed a mass on his brain. 

An MRI the next day at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh confirmed Hoye had stage 4 brain cancer. 

Two days later, he underwent his first surgery, which successfully removed 97% of the tumor.

He was sent home to recover Oct. 14, 2018, before starting radiation and chemotherapy treatments. 

One month later, Hoye began six weeks of a chemotherapy pill Temodar, and eventually needed 30 rounds of radiation. 

Three days before Christmas, and two days before his 52nd birthday, Hoye and his family received a perfect gift — the sound of a bell ringing in the hallway of the hospital, letting everyone within earshot know he had completed his treatment. 

Two weeks later, the couple’s spirits were damped again when a follow-up MRI revealed a second mass on the right side of his brain. It required additional treatment through IV chemotherapy, which Hoye started Feb. 1, 2019.

Despite all of the ups and downs, the couple vowed to make as many memories as possible in whatever time they had left together. 

Through his treatment, Hoye was dedicated to taking care of his family and smiled through his frustrations and filled his life with as much laughter as he could, his wife  said. 

In the middle of his second round of chemotherapy, during a break in the treatment, he and a group of friends took their motorcycles to Daytona, Fla., for bike week.

In April 2019, scans showed both tumors on the left and right side of his brain had shrunk and were stable, but also revealed two new tumors

During a family vacation to Myrtle Beach last June, Hoye suffered a focal seizure that lasted several minutes. Still, he was determined to enjoy the beach.

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