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Grieving mother sets out on 1,500 mile journey to bike the Mississippi River

Melissa Melnick, 52, of St. Paul, lost her son Chris Stanley, 22, last year after he disappeared in the Mississippi River near St. Anthony Falls.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- A Twin Cities pastor is about to embark on an extraordinary 1,500-mile journey the length of the Mississippi River on her bike, a trip her son planned to take before he died in the very same river he wanted to travel.

Melissa Melnick, 52, of St. Paul, lost her son Chris Stanley, 22, last year after he disappeared in the Mississippi River near St. Anthony Falls.

Stanley was only a month from graduation at the University of Minnesota, his degree in neurobiology nearly complete, when he and a friend ventured close to the river’s edge. His friend told police Stanley somehow fell into the falls, and while the friend said he had surfaced from the water, Stanley had not.

It took 10 days for rescue crews to recover Stanley’s body, and in that time, Melnick made her son a promise that she would make the trip he wanted to take, following the Mississippi River down to the Gulf of Mexico on his bike. Stanley was an avid biker and loved the river and the outdoors.

“I spoke it out loud and it’s always been part of my plan in these 16 months,” said Melnick. “Chris was about light and life, and love and joy and peace.”

Even in the depths of her own grief, Melnick has spent the summer training, and fundraising, even making good on a promise to the friends and family that sponsored her miles. She dyed her hair bright green when loved ones helped her reach her goal.

“Sometimes I want to resist happiness or joy, but I find myself able to smile and laugh,” said Melnick. “Even when there is death and dying, somehow we live.”

Melnick has relied deeply on her faith to cope with her grief, along with support from her congregation at Tapestry Church based in Richfield. She plans to stop and preach at churches along the way to the Gulf of Mexico, to share her son’s story and a message of hope.

Her first stop will be a church in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and she plans to ride 150 to 200 miles each week, while building in intentional time to reflect and connect with the river.

“Sometimes I feel like maybe I am the rock, the stone in the river that just wants to stay there, and the waters rush past me, and sometimes the river carries me downstream, so as much as I felt like my life stopped that day, because it did, there is life still, and it carries me along,” said Melnick.

Stanley was cremated, and his ashes were released into the Mississippi.

“He’s literally a part of the river. I bought a condo in downtown St. Paul, and I look out my windows every day and see the river and it makes me think of Chris,” said Melnick.

Her son also wrote poetry, and she plans to pack a book of his poems, some of which detail his own fascination with the river. To a mother, it’s reassurance with every mile, her son is at her back and his legacy flows before her.

“Spring greets me with melting water flowing on sidewalks/These rivers are beautifully destined for my mighty Mississippi/ Mighty mystery,” he wrote.

Follow Melnick’s journey on her Facebook page. She will leave September 3 from the West Bank and arrive in the Gulf of Mexico two months later, in late October and hopes to have support from people to join her along the way.

A GoFundMe page will also help her costs associated with the trip, traveling through 10 states.

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