After granddaughter’s death, a journey of giving
Farm manager to ride his mule to Memphis, raising funds for children’s hospital
Tom Cashman was scheduled to set off today for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee — on the back of a mule.
The journey, which he is using as a fundraiser for the hospital, has been in the planning stages since his granddaughter, Erin Myers, died of cancer at age 14 in 2012.
But Homer, his 17-year-old mule, found out about it much more recently.
“We just started talking today,” Cashman chuckled late last month. “I didn’t want to tell him too far ahead of time.”
Cashman has been around horses and mules throughout his career. As manager of Chanceland Farms in West Friendship, he uses Homer to help train yearlings — year-old throughbred horses. A cross between a draft horse and a donkey, Homer is a large, calm role model for the spirited young horses.
“I’ve always liked mules. My grandfather had mules,” Cashman said.
His granddaughter liked to ride Homer too, he said. “She used to come and ride all the time,” Cashman said. “That’s why I thought maybe I would take Homer. She’ll be riding with me.”
In April 2012, Erin Myers died of cancer, Cashman said. During her battle with the disease, she had spent time at St. Jude as a last effort. He was impressed with the care she received and how her family — even the extended family — were treated.
“It’s a beautiful facility,” he said. “No family gets a bill. They put the family up, even me and my wife, and we’re grandparents. It is a good organization.”
He had always tinkered with the idea of traveling around the country on a mule. The idea of planning a ride as a fundraiser for St. Jude made it a reality.
“It is the first thing off of my bucket list,” said Cashman, who begins his retirement with the ride. “I would like to ride right into the parking lot and hand them the donations.”
Plans are to travel four hours a day riding and two hours a day driving, Cashman said. He expects it will take about two weeks to reach St. Jude in Memphis, depending on the weather.
“Homer is not fast enough for the interstates,” he said.
His son, Patrick, will follow him with the trailer and the two plan to camp along the way. His wife, Carmen, might join him for the return trip.
“My wife wanted me to do something closer to home,” Cashman said, “but that’s not really getting the word out.”
His daughter, Toni Cashman — Erin’s mother — had hoped to travel with him but will remain at home in Taneytown, he said. She set up a gofundme site,
Cashman will have a banner advertising the site visible while he is riding.
“We are grateful for Mr. Cashman’s efforts because fundraisers like this support the global mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to find new and better treatments for childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases to save more lives,” Reed Hartley of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, wrote in an email.
“It will make something good out of a bad situation,” Cashman said. “People call me a hero. I’m not the hero. Those kids are the heroes; the suffering they go through.”
Cashman said he is thankful for the donations already received and the offers to stay at farms along the way.
He planned to leave from Howard County Farm Museum on Sunday. There, friends and family were scheduled to see him off after a light breakfast and a blessing from his pastor.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Cashman said of the ride. “I think it will be a fun adventure.”
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