Later this morning, my father-in-law Norm and I will be heading out to Sturbridge, MA to get ready to spend our weekend on our bicycles. It’s Pan-Mass Challenge weekend – this will be my 11th ride and Norm’s 3rd. Cycling has become a year-round activity for both of us, so training for the ride never stops. I will often be asked during the year “Are you doing the race again this year?” or “are you ready for your race?” I try not to correct them anymore – “it is ride, not a race”, I used say. Because the cycling event itself is a supported ride, across Massachusetts.
But it is a race. The race is to see how quickly we can fund the curing of cancer. I ride in 38 degrees in February thinking about cancer. I ride in 95 degree heat in July thinking about cancer. I ride the PMC, thinking about cancer. Thinking about all the pain and suffering cancer has given me. Thinking about all that cancer has taken from my friends and their families. Thinking that one day soon, cancer will be defeated. To me that means, the researchers and doctors that the PMC funds and others will have discovered and mastered the mechanisms to make cancer cells obsolete quickly and at low impact to the individual when they show up in the human body. Not some. ALL. Period. End of story. End of cancer.
It is a race. While we are getting closer to this day each and every year, we are not there yet. My dad has been going through treatment for 3 years now for pancreatic cancer with no end to treatment in sight. The mother of my daughter’s best friend has been undergoing breast cancer treatment for months now. One of my PMC teammates just lost his cousin 10 days ago. In the past 12 months, I know of countless other people who have similar stories.
Who do you know that is going through cancer treatment right now? Or has recently? Have you ever wondered…. who’s next? I know I do. I look at my wife, who hadn’t met yet when I beat cancer the first time, and wonder if she’ll have to deal with cancer someday. I look at my 7 year old and am so thankful that I am able to watch her grow up – she was 1 when my cancer recurrence happened and we didn’t know what was next. And now with our 4 month old son entering the world, I pray that both my kids will never have to hear the words “you have Hodgkin’s Lymphoma” with knowledge that there is an ever so slight genetic component involved with the disease.
It is with all this on my mind this morning, that I finish packing and head out to Sturbridge, ready to ride a bicycle 192 miles in the next two days. The 6,200 cyclists that I will be riding with this weekend all do this to raise money for life-saving cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). The PMC raises more charitable dollars than any other single event in the country – $547 million since 1980 and $47 million last year alone. This year’s goal is $48 million. Your donation brings us Closer by the Mile to ending cancer.
You have generously donated in the past. I hope that this note finds you well and that you will again make a donation that is going to save lives.
We are PMC and Now We Ride!
100% of your donation will go to cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through its Jimmy Fund. I have made a personal commitment to raise $10,000. I hope you can you will again support my fundraising effort.
I Wasn't Sick ... I Just HAD Cancer 