This will be my 3rd year riding the PMC and 5th year being involved, and every year it is my favorite weekend to be a part of. This ride holds a special place in my heart and I am looking forward to 2025 being the best one yet.
We all have people in our lives whose memories we honor or whose survival we celebrate, and I am grateful to be riding this summer for such a great cause. A few people I want to honor this year as I have in past years:
*** Friend and mentor of mine from high school, Kendall Chun, who passed away in 2022 from cancer. Kendall ran the outdoor program at Milton Academy, and he was a beautiful human being who devoted so much care and love into his students. He will be missed by all in the Milton community, and I will think fondly of outdoor program meetings in his office, our spring break trip to Zion National Park, and running into him at the climbing gym with my sister. Kendall, we love you and we miss you, and we hope you are resting peacefully. ***
*** Jon Schoen, Dillon's dad. We all ride as part of Team Ocho Cinco to honor him, as he passed away in 2017. He was such an incredible supporter of Stanford lacrosse and he even participated in the PMC for several years while battling cancer (and not to mention he was an incredible athlete, and wore #85 on the BC football team... insane athleticism runs in that family). ***
*** Linda Park, my aunt who passed from colon cancer when I was in 8th grade. She passed early on a Friday morning, and for an 8th grader it felt surreal. We had grown up with my aunt and my cousins- they lived with us for several years. We would often sit around our kitchen table making crafts like beaded fairies or learning how to sew our own (objectively ugly) stuffed animals. Cancer sucks. I am honored to ride in her memory <3 ***
The PMC raises millions of dollars each year and 100% of the money is donated to support the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). During my PhD I have worked closely with Cathy Wu's lab from DFCI. Her lab received designated funds from PMC fundraising! Cathy is also one of the 42 DFCI researchers named to the Highly Cited Researchers list for 2024. Through our collaboration I have gotten to experience first hand the impactful research these funds go towards. Our research aims to understand cellular interactions between tumor and immune cells in patients with relapsed leukemia. The variability in these interactions will hopefully shed light on why some patients respond to certain treatments while others don’t. Cancer biology research has made incredible strides over the past years, and so much of that progress is in part due to increased funding from organizations like the PMC (with the other part being the brilliant minds leading these research projects). Money raised by the PMC goes to cutting edge work. With each published paper and clinical trial, we get one step closer to understanding cancer and leveraging that understanding towards a therapeutic solution.
Cancer affects all of us, and cancer research is such an important investment. It has been the cornerstone of my PhD, and I have learned so much from my collaborators at Dana Farber and their incredible research and work ethic. I hope that the money raised here will contribute to all the progress that has already been made and give hope to any of us affected in the past, present, and future. Please consider donating to my page to support this cause. Every small donation counts, and I am incredibly grateful for any and all support for this ride and cause.
