The heart behind Miles for Minds
Joyce's Story
Before Joyce became the reason behind Miles for Minds, she was simply Joyce—a wife, mother, sister, friend, and someone who loved bringing people together.
She had a way of making people feel welcome, and she loved her family, her community, and finding reasons to celebrate. She especially loved Halloween, which is one of the reasons we knew October would always be a meaningful time to gather in her honor.
But Joyce's story is also the reason we believe so strongly in the importance of awareness.
WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW
March 2025
This photograph was taken in March of 2025—about seven months before Joyce's aneurysm ruptured.
Joyce had woken up one morning with a blood vessel broken in her right eye. It was noticeable, but she wasn't experiencing anything that made us think we were looking at something serious. We didn't think much of it.
At the time, it was simply another little health concern that came and went.
Joyce had also experienced migraines for much of her life. She had always connected her headaches to being hit by a car when she was a young adult, and migraines had become something our family was accustomed to hearing about.
Looking back now, we think about those things differently.
We don't know whether the broken blood vessel in Joyce's eye was related to her aneurysm, and we don't want to suggest that it was. What we do know is that there were things happening with Joyce's health that we didn't understand—and we didn't know what questions to ask.
Then, on October 25, 2025, Joyce suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm.
Our family was suddenly faced with something we knew very little about.
And we realized how much we wished we had known sooner.
Turning loss into awareness
We can't go back and change what we didn't know then.
But we can learn now.
And we can help other families learn.
That's why we're sharing Joyce's story.
Through Miles for Minds, we want to help our community better understand brain aneurysms, learn about warning signs and risk factors, and connect people with reliable information and resources through the Brain Aneurysm Foundation.
Our hope isn't to create fear. It's to create awareness.
Because sometimes the most important thing we can give someone is the information we wish we had ourselves.
OUR VISION
On October 24, 2026—one year after Joyce's aneurysm—we will bring our community together for the inaugural Miles for Minds, featuring a motorcycle Dice Run, Community Walk, and JoyceFest celebration in downtown Cowpens.
What we hope to build is something Joyce would have loved: people coming together, helping one another, making memories, and celebrating life while making a difference.
Miles for Minds will honor Joyce's memory while supporting the Brain Aneurysm Foundation and its work in awareness, education, research, and support.
And our hope is that this becomes more than a one-day event.
We hope it becomes Joyce's legacy.
We ride.
We walk.
We remember.
We raise awareness.
We do it for Joyce. 💙