I have to be honest: There are two things I really hate about the work I do with NET cancer.

The first is reading the daily notices about who has died overnight. I’ve reached a point that I know most of them. I’ve read their posts in support groups, met them at conferences. Every death reminds me that despite the money we’ve raised, despite the real progress we’ve made on understanding the disease, we still have no cure, we still have too few ways to ease patients’ suffering, we still have too few ways to improve both the length and—more importantly—the quality of patients’ lives.

And every death reminds me that I have still failed to keep my promise to Jane that I would one day stand at her grave and tell her NET cancer is dead.

And it hurts.

It hurts so badly that I do the second thing I hate doing: asking people for money.

On August 4, I’m putting my 67-year-old body on a bike and peddling 50 miles as part of the Pan Mass Challenge. The money I raise will go to NET cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the leaders in NET cancer research in the years since Jane’s death.

If you can donate, I’d appreciate it. If you can share this post, I’d appreciate that, as well.

And if you’d like to join heidi's Heroes for any part of the ride, that would be cool, too.

Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, the first $2500 in donations to my ride will be matched dollar-for-dollar. My personal donations do not count toward that total.

All money I raise for my ride supports NET cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Jane Dybowski Fund for NET Cancer Research.