Hello friends, family, and colleagues!

Many of you know me as a recreational runner and swimmer. Well, this year, I'm branching out into a new realm of the exercise world - cycling - in proud support of the Pan-Mass Challenge, a bike-a-thon supporting Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This annual Massachusetts-based fundraiser raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the United States. I am a member of Team South Shore Health (https://profile.pmc.org/TS0294), meaning funds I raise with your help will be designated specifically toward patient care and services at the Dana Farber-Brigham Cancer Center at South Shore Health in Weymouth, MA. My team includes coworkers, health care providers, and community members who are cancer survivors themselves or have relatives or friends who have battled this horrible disease.

My own mother was a strong presence in my and my brother's life, in our town and in our family. She also lived with breast cancer for 19 years. Her untimely death, shortly after retiring, still affects us years later. Because of an experience I had while helping to care for her, waiting several hours in a crowded hospital emergency room until she could be seen, I am particularly pleased that some of the funds I help raise will go toward a local Mobile Integrated Health Unit that travels to patients of the DFCC - South Shore who need emergency care, allowing them to avoid Emergency Room wait times and exposures. This type of service would have been a godsend back in 2005.

Since the first ride in 1980, PMC - with help from riders like me and donors like you! - has raised more than $1 billion for Dana Farber's life-saving care and research. Since 2016, Team South Shore Health has raised nearly $2 million locally. And 100 percent of every dollar I raise will go directly to patient care and support, meaning that your donation has a real impact!

Please consider donating to my PMC fundraising and help me reach my fundraising goal of $3,000. I'll be riding the 50-mile PMC option on Sunday, August 3, thinking of you!

**If you have a friend or family member affected by cancer, and want to share their name with me (amy.wyeth@gmail.com) I would be pleased to pin it to my biking jersey when I ride.**

Thank you for supporting me.

Amy