Hi Friends,

The Pan Mass Challenge (PMC) back to a full ride and team IMAGINE and I plan to enthusiastically participate and raise funds for cancer research. The event will take place on August 6th and 7th and I will be riding from Wellesley to Bourne (82 miles) on Saturday, August 6th. Despite the challenge of high temperatures last year and being yet another year older, I remain committed to go beyond the everyday and through the PMC support more cancer research than traditional funding allows. The PMC raises more money for charity than any other single event and 100% of every dollar goes to Dana-Farber Cancer Center research.

We named our team “IMAGINE” because all team members have either had cancer or has a family member with cancer. We are IMAGINING a world without cancer. I IMAGINE a world without cancer every day at Dana-Farber while working with my patients, while analyzing data and while planning the next clinical trial. Plain and simple, I hate what cancer does to the lives of good people, and I work every day towards the goal of life without cancer.

This year, I ride my sixth PMC as part of team IMAGINE. Cancer research has resulted in more cures and patients are living longer but we have a LONG way to go to achieve a normal life-expectancy for all. Recent PMC funds raised by our team has supported research projects that focus on understanding how cancer cells become resistant to therapy including gene sequencing on a single cell level and studies evaluating how the immune system adapts to therapy in prostate cancer. Our work has been published in top science journals.

I am motivated to ride the PMC again this year because of inspiration from my patients and their families and the HOPE that increased research funding brings.

Here is a link to my comments (2021) on a therapy recently FDA approved for prostate cancer.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-03/novartis-drug-s-radiation-blast-extends-prostate-cancer-survival

Here is a link to my video from 2019 that describes the impact of PMC funds on our prostate/genitourinary cancer research.

https://vimeo.com/338944452

There are two ways to support our team (IMAGINE) and Dana-Farber cancer research:

• Digital: visit my page on the PMC website (http://profile.pmc.org/MT0216 )
• Pen and paper: write a check made out to “PMC” and mail it to me at my home (333 Commonwealth Ave. #16, Boston, MA 02115)

I am excited and feel privileged to be a PMC rider. Thank you for friendship and support.

Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD.