The Capital | Wendi Winters | Sept. 8, 2013

St. Mary’s High School Class of 1991 graduate Al DeCesaris doesn’t have a spouse or any children of his own. But on Sunday, he’s heading out on a solo cross-country bike ride from Santa Monica, Calif., to Annapolis, before his grand finish in Ocean City.

DeCesaris, 40, is doing it to raise funds in hopes of curing a little girl who stole his heart — his niece, Jenna Heck, 9, of Davidsonville.

“It’s an ocean-to-ocean ride,” said DeCesaris, now a lawyer in Redondo Beach, Calif.

Crossing America for a Cure is a fundraiser hosted by the Celebrate Hope Foundation. Its board members and creators are DeCesaris and his sister, Ida DeCesaris Heck, Jenna’s mother.

Her daughter was born with Sturge-Weber syndrome, a congenital neurological disorder that results from a prenatal genetic mutation. It can result in lifelong health complications like seizures and glaucoma.

The seizures, in turn, can trigger a cascade of problems including strokes, developmental delays and learning disabilities.

Some SWS sufferers are have a port-wine birthmark on their faces, which can cause blood vessel abnormalities in the brain, skin and eyes.

“Jenna has glaucoma in one eye and port-wine stains on half of her face, a telltale sign of this disorder,” DeCesaris said. He said not all of those with port-wine stains have SWS.

“She’s had seizures ongoing throughout her life, strokelike episodes. Jenna’s had to re-acquire motor skills on one side of her body,” he said. A student at Davidsonville Elementary School, she also has learning disabilities.

In 2002, Al DeCesaris’ aunt and uncle, Geaton DeCesaris Jr. and JoAnn DeCesaris, donated $3 million to Anne Arundel Medical Center’s Cancer Institute. This came shortly after Geaton DeCesaris was diagnosed with the lung cancer that killed him four years later.

In gratitude, the hospital named the building after the couple.

Eleven years ago, one of their daughters, JoAnn DeCesaris Wellington, established the DeCesaris/Prout Cancer Foundation with her best friend, Beth Prout Lennon, who lost her mother to cancer. The two organized an annual golf tournament that has raised more than $1 million for cancer research.

In June, Wellington’s husband Daniel completed a 20-day, 1,500-mile bike ride that raised $27,000 for his wife’s foundation.

Unlike his cousin-in-law, Al DeCesaris is not riding with a group or any support staff.

“I’m doing it alone. I’m totally self-contained. No support team,” he said. The trip will cover more than 3,000 miles.

“I have a touring bike with a rack on the back with everything I need. I’ll stay at campgrounds, roadside motels or wherever I can with friends and family members … Along the way, I want to connect with people and tell them about SWS.”

Like his relatives, DeCesaris has been down the fundraising road before.

With his sister, he organizes the popular fundraiser Bands on the Bay each spring. Through the event, held at Herrington on the Bay in south county, the siblings have raised more than $1 million in the past eight years.

The money is donated to the Hunter Nelson Sturge-Weber Center at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.

“Throughout Jenna’s life, she’s been receiving care and treatment at the center. I’ve been there numerous times with her. I feel an obligation to help fight this disease,” DeCesaris said.

“I’m not a doctor, I’m not even a cyclist — I’m a runner — but I feel the need to help my niece and all these children with this disease.”

There’s another reason.

“Last spring, Anne Comi, the director of the Hunter Nelson Sturge-Weber Center, contacted us and made us aware that a medical breakthrough had occurred. Researchers discovered the cause of SWS,” DeCesaris said.

“Now that a cure is within reach, my sister and I decided we needed to do more than we were doing. We wanted to do a fall event to create more awareness.”

Once aboard his bike in California, DeCesaris will head east to Arizona and cycle around the southeast side of the Grand Canyon and into southern Colorado. “It’s a straight shot to the East Coast from there,” he said.

He will be blogging and shooting video as he goes. Friends will be editing and posting weekly highlight reels online at www.crossingamericaforacure.com, including three-minute clips set to music by performers who have been involved with Bands on the Bay.

“People can follow my journey on the website,” DeCesaris said, “and perhaps donate a penny or nickel per mile — or any amount they wish.”