This Saturday and Sunday I will be rising early to get on my bike and ride 192 miles from Sturbridgeto Provincetown in the 39th Pan Mass Challenge to raise funds for Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Dana Farber's grace of brilliance and boundless compassion has been an integral part of my life for over a dozen years now. Just weeks after my dear grandfather lost the long, hard battle to leukemia alongside a team at Dana Farber, my mother walked through the doors as a patient with a phyllodes tumor. The fear was a true reality.

This year she is 10 years cancer free in large part and thanks to Dana Farber, which is why I have again committed to raising $4,900 for the cause. Riding right alongside of my dear mother, a pure product of the treatment and fight of Dana Farber, is stunning.

The Pan Mass Challenge is the largest athletic fundraiser and has raised more than $598 million for cancer research and care since 1980. Last year was a record of $51 million and every single rider-raised cent goes directly to Dana Farber to support their care, research and improvements. It is my personal goal and duty to grow the reach and awareness to my own audience; to which, I look to you for support.