A Sole Ryeder--and Survivor

She "died" in the clinical sense during open heart surgery, was brought back to life, and promised herself she would make every moment count in what she considers her second life. The result: Rye resident Sandy Samberg, 38, has become the heart and soul behind the Sole Ryeders, a group of more than 100 local women who have raised more than half-a-million dollars to help beat cancer.

Samberg and her fellow Rye residents have raised money for cancer via fund-raising walks, the reason for the group's moniker, the Sole Ryeders.

Samberg and the Ryeders wear down a lot of shoe leather walking in marathon 40-mile fund-raising events sponsored by companies like Avon, while training during chatty, bonding and informative long-distance treks in and around Rye City and Rye Town.

But that isn't half of it when it comes to condensing the Sandy Samberg story.

Samberg is a multi-tasker—a wife, mother (her two young Midland School sons help with the Sole Ryeders web site), pediatric nurse specialist and community activist.

So it is really no surprise to those who know her that Sandy was recently honored with the Rye YMCA Community Service Award "in recognition of her outstanding citizenship, as well as her efforts to make a positive difference through a wide range of philanthropic initiatives."

Samberg's community involvement began almost from the moment she moved to Rye in 2002 after growing up in Chappaqua, marrying her childhood sweetheart, and becoming active in programs ranging from the Midland School Caring Committee, which provides funds for Rye families in need, to organizing programs for the Carver Community Center in Port Chester ranging from scholarships to sleepaway camps for needy youngsters to health lectures, and a lot more, including helping lead the fundraising that led to the renovation of the Carver Center's gymnasium.

Sole Ryeders, Samberg's latest community effort, began back in 2000 with a walk that Samberg couldn't make. One of her best friends was dying of cancer and Sandy wanted to join her in a 60-mile walk from Bear Mountain to New York City to raise funds to help beat the cancer. However, Samberg's doctors said such a walk would kill her because of her heart problems, so Sandy waited at the finish line for her friend, and walked the last few feet with her instead. Samberg was so moved by the participants and the speeches by cancer survivors that she vowed she would make that walk someday.

"I remember exactly where I was standing, exactly what I thought," she told Patch.

But to become even moderately active, she first had to undergo risky open heart surgery, which almost killed her. She survived and underwent rehab, the endless rounds of physical therapy, and slowly built her body back up to the point where she could become active, taking Pilates and other exercise classes at the Rye YMCA until she felt she could undertake a cancer fund-raising walk. Her friend died shortly before that walk.

In October 2006, she participated in her first 40-mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in  memory of her friend and in honor of another who had just been diagnosed with cancer.

"The stars seemed to be in alignment," Samberg said.  

She asked various Rye friends to help sponsor her, and two of them –Maiju Savage, her Pilates instructor, and Laura Da Vita –also agreed to walk  the distance with her. During their talks along the way, she came up with the idea to start a team from Rye for future Avon Walks. That first walk raised $17,000.

Soon after, as she gave birth to the Sole Ryeders, the local team raised $100,000 with 40 "walkers" participating, among them administrative whiz Lynn Halpern, a local mother who organized the Sole Ryders website and who stepped up to, in effect, become team co-captain with Samberg.

They partnered to incorporate an educational component to Sole Ryeders, beginning with an event featuring prominent Rye radiologist Dr. Cathy Giess. The event, a "Stress and Wine" fund-raising talk, raised $40,000 last year. The group also recently held a "Nutrition and the Environment" lecture drawing more than 50 listeners to the Wainwright House on May 21.

Samberg has watched the group grow to more than 100 members. Sole Ryeders has helped link community members with appropriate resources for various women's health and cancer-related issues, from recommending surgeons and oncologists to helping fund medical supplies to coming up with wig makers for chemotherapy patients.

"Basically, we have the know how to help newcomers navigate through the medical system, which can be a frightening thing to a woman who has just learned she has cancer," Samberg said.

In 2009, Sole Ryeders officially became a charitable organization, the Sole Ryeders & Friends Fund. FJC, a foundation of philanthropic funds, is the group's fiscal sponsor, which enables the Sole Ryeders to raise funds and donate them to the non-profit organizations of their own choosing, according to Samberg.

"One of our goals is to have an impact on our immediate community, so we research local non-profits and award grants to those whose missions are aligned with ours," she said, mentioning that Sole Ryeders provides funding for organizations ranging from Gilda's Club of Westchester to the Open Door Health Care Center.

In addition to her work with Sole Ryeders, Samberg also works with the NiteStar, a sexual education program for adolescents; Northern Westchester Hospital, in duties ranging from nurse recruitment to volunteer "Caregiver Coach" on the hospital floors. Sandy's other projects include working with her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, where she is a speaker on career options for nursing students and where she helped establish the Penn Nursing/Nurse Family Partnership Fellowship Fund, which provides financial support to graduate students at the university's School of Nursing.

Samberg has apparently made the most of her near death experience. She said her community involvement isn't entirely selfless, because it helps her as much as it helps others.

"I'm the one who really benefits from everything I'm involved in," she told Patch.

"I love the bonding with people, the friendships, the inner satisfaction that comes from helping people who need help, from honoring those who have meant so much to me, and from the joy that simply comes from being alive and making the most of my second life and seeing the results that come from helping people rebuild their lives."

Samberg's fellow Sole Ryeders said it's the community that has really benefited from Samberg's efforts.

"Sandy is amazing inspirational person who has always time to help others so many different ways," Maiju Savage said.  "I'm very lucky to have a friend like her who inspires me to be a better person. Rye is lucky to have her as part of our community."

"Sandy is just a phenomenal person, my partner in SoleRyeders, and true friend," Lynn Halpern said. "She's reliable, conscientious, dependable and really has her priorities straight. Sandy goes through her days trying to have a positive impact on people, friends, family. She's quite simply an amazing woman."

For further information: visit  www.SoleRyeders.org., or sandysamberg@soleryders.org, lynnhalpern@soleryders.org; phone: (914) 412-4884.