FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. – A Fleming Island veteran is in the fight for his life after recently being diagnosed with cancer.
Robert Boozer is a retired Navy veteran and was a respected motorcycle repair shop owner.
Now people are rallying behind him.
Hundreds of people are in Boozer’s corner as they’re raising money to help him during his cancer journey, including with a 30-mile bike ride from Orange Park to Green Cove Springs. @wjxt4 pic.twitter.com/mAnL4ABJK2
— Aaron Farrar (@aaronfarrarNews) February 19, 2023
Anyone who knows Boozer can tell you he does not back down from a challenge.
Boozer served in the Navy for 20 years. Just six months into opening his own motorcycle repair shop he had a heart attack. Now he faces a new fight.
“It has spread into my bones. It is pretty bad,” Boozer said.
The news forced him to close up his business, Boozer’s Bike Shop, and turn his attention elsewhere.
“Try to spend as much time as I can with my wife, spending more time with my wife,” an emotional Boozer told News4JAX.
Boozer is not alone in this battle.
A fundraiser to help in his cancer journey includes a 30-mile motorcycle ride from Locals Pub in Orange Park to Boogervile Hideout in Green Cove Springs.
Boozer considers the support phenomenal and overwhelming.
“You don’t have to be blood to be family. I have a lot of family right now. A lot of family. I love them all,” he said.
Lori Ralph organized the event hoping to raise money to help with Boozer’s transportation for treatment and renovations to his house to accommodate his health challenges.
“I just sat here feeling helpless, hopeless, crying, and not knowing what to do,” Ralph said.
There is also a GoFundMe set up for Boozer that has a $20,000 goal.
Boozer is not giving up. And his wife Dawn said quitting is not an option.
“I do not let him get down. That is not an option. We are going to fight this to the very, very end. I am not letting him get there,” she said.