Hardly anyone is untouched by the scourge of cancer and our CNN family has felt its devastating impact. Team Beans is riding in honor of Francesca “Beans” Kaczynski and Blake Payne, both young children of CNN colleagues and friends who passed away from brain cancer, the deadliest form of childhood cancer. I also ride in memory of my sister Rachel, whom we lost when she was almost three years-old to another kind of cancer called a chordoma, which is rarely found in young children.

Today I have friends waging valiant fights against cancer and I’ll be thinking about them as we make our way from central Mass out to Cape Cod. Among them, Josh Hersh and Gabi Benjamin.

Last year, you helped me raise an incredible $27,600 with 100% of the proceeds going directly to support the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a world leader in adult and pediatric cancer treatment and research. I hope I can count on your support this year. Thank you.