Dear Friends & Family,

It was a year to the day that cancer struck our family when my wife was diagnosed with Leukemia. I’m incredibly happy to say that after 8 months of treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston she is cancer free. The DFCI is the same organization that twice successfully treated me for cancer, 15 years ago and again in 2013. We have both entrusted the DFCI with our ongoing post treatment care.

And it is the same one that I have annually supported by riding the Pan Massachusetts Challenge. I enjoy riding a bike so it seems the least I could do.

I may not be as fast or fit as I was on my first few rides, but this is certainly not the year to throw in the towel. I will be clipping into my pedals and strapping on my helmet yet again the first weekend in August. And for the 14th consecutive year I am I’m issuing my shameless plea for your help.

My wife and I have been fortunate. Millions of others are not as lucky. It is unlikly that anybody reading this has not been touched by cancer. Finding new treatments and cures for cancer is serious science and that takes serious funding. That is what the PMC does incredibly well. Since my first ride in 2011 my friends and family have generously donated $192,000 in support of my charity weekend bike tour. We have a goal of raising $75 million dollars this year. Just last week the PMC reached a milestone tally of $1,000,000,000 (yes, that is billion!) in historical (44 years) gifts to the Dana- Farber. That amount from some people out for weekend bike tours is a testament to our faith in the work being done by the people at the DFCI. Pretty remarkable. What helps make the PMC the top athletic fund raiser in the world by far is that every last penny donated to a rider goes directly to the Dana-Farber. The entire event overhead is underwritten private and corporate entities. Your donation goes exactly where you think it will go.

Full disclosure: The traditional weekend route is 185 miles across a good portion of the state with a finish at the tip of Cape Cod. There were years that several friends and I started at the NY border on Friday for a full 300 mile Pan Mass experience. But I’m pushing 70 years old. Those days are in the rear view mirror. During COVID when we could not gather in large groups the PMC introduced the concept of a “reimagined” ride where you simply did what you could do. This year I’m doing a “reimagined” hybrid ride that will include much of the traditional route with the PMC peloton but will be a bit shorter. I hope you will understand the event is about the cause not the miles ridden.

I hope I can again count on you for support.