You might know him as “Tree” Lee.

Growing up in Boothbay Harbor, Chris Lee picked up the nickname for being tall.

Now the St. Andrews Hospital-born, Boothbay Region High School basketball standout is 37 and living in Brookline, Mass. And that nickname? Turns out, it fits for a second reason.

Trees are strong.

Lee lost his father Robert Lee to colon cancer in 1997. A year later, one of Chris Lee's older brothers, Allen Lee, was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He died in 2011.

Through both loved ones' inspirational fights and his own, successful one against thyroid cancer (he hit the five-year, cancer-free mark in November 2012), Lee gathered the sort of insight those trials can yield.

“I try to live with as much life as I can, and get the most out of every day,” he said August 29. “The truth of the matter is, even if it's a terminal diagnosis, it's important to live every day.”

He and his brother Allen Lee were doing just that during the older brother's fight, running together in many fundraisers for the Livestrong Foundation (www.livestrong.org).

Allen Lee was adamant about raising community awareness and raising money to help other families fighting cancer, his brother said.

Chris Lee started the LeeStrong Foundation, in his family's name, to support the Livestrong Foundation.

But a 2009 Livestrong fundraiser Chris Lee missed, due to a work commitment, has stood out as unfinished business for him. He's about to take part in that same fundraiser, more than two years after his brother's death.

The idea of doing it without his brother was hard, but this year, the time felt right.

“I've had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to participate, and I know that's what he would have wanted to do, is keep up the fight and never give up,” Lee said.

Allen Lee had decided last-minute to go to the 2009 event in Austin, Texas. When he got there, the only bike he could find to rent was a tandem.

“So again in true Allen spirit, he just shrugged his shoulders ‘oh well,’ took that bike, and happily peddled away to complete the 20 mile ... trek on a tandem bike all by himself,” Lee writes in an online narrative at www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/the-leestrong-100-mile-solo-tandem-ride/79803.

The tandem bike added to the event's meaning for Allen Lee; his father-in-law John Allen, who died from skin cancer five years earlier, used to ride solo on a tandem with a “Help Wanted” sign hanging from the back seat, Chris Lee writes.

On October 20, when he's riding in Texas, he’ll be solo on a tandem bike, like his brother was. But the younger brother is turning his own challenge up a notch: He doesn't plan to finish at the 20-mile mark. He's going for 100 miles.

And unlike the bike he just bought online to train with, Lee is rusty. He hasn't spent much time on one since high school.

He went a little further than he planned on one of his first outings. He got lost among the turns of the bike path along the Charles River, and wound up riding 22.5 miles. He was feeling it the next day.

But some elements in his favor could help him go the distance in next month's event. For one, Lee keeps fit by going to the gym, running and playing basketball and softball.

Lee said he knows his brother will be riding with him the whole time, on the back seat.

“I know when I finish, it will be emotional for me, but I also know it'll feel good to be part of a good fight and helping an awesome organization.”

Lee said the rental bike he has reserved in Austin is the same make and model as the one his brother rode. He said it could even be from the same shop, since there weren't many tandem bikes for rent in the area.

Lee already had plenty of reasons to ride, in memory of his father and brother and as a cancer survivor; but around the same time he decided to do it, a good friend from the peninsula, former Edgecomb resident Krista Clunie, was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphona.

So, he'll also be riding in honor of her as a fellow survivor, he said.

Clunie, 29, of Melrose, Mass., said she was diagnosed July 27 and has begun treatment. “I'm feeling good,” she said August 31.

“I'm extremely honored that Chris wants to ride for me as well as (for) his family members,” she said.

Donations to benefit Livestrong through Lee's ride can be made online at www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/the-leestrong-100-mile-solo-tandem-ride/79803. Or, checks payable to LeeStrong Foundation may be mailed to LeeStrong Foundation, c/o Christopher Lee, P.O. Box 7785, Portland, ME 04112.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or susanjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com