2024 marks my 11th consecutive year riding the PMC! Thanks for your support over the years and let's do it one more time!
In 2018 I joined team Perry, raising money for the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center at Dana-Farber where I was treated. (Read more about Team Perry here.) Perry Levy, like me, was a young man in his 30s diagnosed with advanced GI cancer. I like to believe the contributions made in his memory directly saved me, and so many others, from the same fate. The impact of Team Perry's mission couldn't be more real to me.
As a stage 3 colorectal cancer survivor and Dana-Farber patient, the PMC means so much to me and so does your contribution. Over the years I have raised over $90,000 with your help to advance the state of cancer treatment and cure others like me. This year I hope to move past $100,000 raised over my 11 year PMC career.
My cancer journey started in August 2012, when I was diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer. Half asleep from the colonoscopy meds, I calmly asked if they could cut it out. The nurse said they couldn’t right then, it was very large. I sat on a bench in my gown, not sure if I could manage to get my clothes back on. It seemed like a hazy dream - completely unreal. On the ride home I tried saying it out loud - I have cancer.
The following year was a tough one that included chemotherapy, radiation, and multiple surgeries. I had to carry a portable IV pump wherever I went, and I even got to try a colostomy bag for a few months (super fun). The final part of my recovery was training for the 2014 Pan-Mass Challenge. With every pedal stroke - pushing myself and the bike up every steep hill - I felt I was curing cancer in my own body. And when the actual PMC event came, and I heard the stories of so many other riders, it became very real to me that I wasn’t just curing my cancer.
Today I am cancer free thanks to you, Team Perry, and the PMC!
