2025 will be my 12th consecutive year riding the PMC, and 12th year since I completed cancer treatment at Dana-Farber for Stage 3 colorectal cancer. Thank you all so much for your support over the years. It has meant a lot to me and to coutless others.

This year I ride in memory of my friend and colleague, Larry Alston, who passed away March 1. Larry and I worked together at IONA Technologies and Progress Software nearly 20 years ago. After Progress we stayed in touch, Larry always providing good career advice and sharing the frustrations and triumphs of parenthood. Just after I finished chemo, Larry let me know he'd been diagnosed with colon cancer too. I told him everything about what I'd been through - which doctors to talk to, what to expect, how I'd talked to my kids and family about it. It was therapeutic for both of us to have someone to share the experience with. I told him the PMC had been an important part of my recovery after treatment the previous year, so in 2015, after his recovery from treatment, we rode the PMC together.

Even when his cancer recurred, Larry remained committed to the PMC, riding and volunteering in between treatment, along with his daughter, Brooke. As in all things, Larry brought a lot of joy. I'll miss my living proof cancer buddy this year. But he'll still be along with me on training rides, having a beer at the Mass Maritime Academy, and at the finish line in P-town, just like old times.