WHY DO I RIDE?
I ride because I can. I ride for those who cannot. I ride because the training rides and the miles on PMC weekend are nothing compared to living with or dying from cancer!
For the 14th consecutive year I will ride my bicycle in the Pan Mass Challenge on the first weekend in August. I ride again to raise critical research and patient care dollars for Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Cancer doesn't discriminate; it kills the rich, the poor, and the middle class, young and old, men, women and children. Cancer sucks. Cancer is not one disease it is over 400 different diseases. That is why the PMC and your donations are so vitally important. The researchers and doctors have made tremendous progress on many cancer diseases, but many others are still very much a mystery. The research being done at DFCI is at the cellular level. How a certain cancer affects certain cells...and what is the best treatment for each individual patient, miraculous stuff, and yes, very expensive.
This is my 14th year riding and my 10th as the captain of my team THE PATRIOTSPLATELET PEDALERS. My team is my second family and they and the PMC have become part of my fabric, my life, my DNA. I have witnessed so many great successes in treatment for friends and loved ones, but I have also seen too many tragic and painful deaths. I can't sit by and be a spectator. This year I ride in memory of my dear friend Amie Shapiro White. Amie died last February at 46 years young. I also ride in memory of Bob Henderson and Richard Kaplan who both lost their battles in 2016! I also ride in honor of all those fighting, especially our teams Pedal Partners. PJ is 4 and Jovi is 2 and they both have cancer... I won't stop... I will continue to fight with all I have until I can no longer...or until it's not necessary, preferably the later.
14 years of training and writing letters and telling my story and the story of our team to anyone who will listen. Please help me reach my personal fundraising goal of $10,000 for this year, as it will bring my lifetime fundraising to $110,000!
Your donation is fully tax deductible and thanks to corporate underwriting of the event, every single rider raised penny goes to DFCI to continue the ground-breaking research and to help patients. Please donate on line or mail donations to me at 10 Hampshire Avenue, Sharon, MA 02067. Please make checks payable to PMC
Peace! Gary
