Dear Friends,

For the 20th time, I sit down to write my Pan Mass Challenge fundraising letter. Twenty years to remind me of and to contemplate the impact of Cancer on so many loved ones lost to this terrible disease. In 2005, I had already lost both my parents, my college lacrosse coach and a close high school friend to cancer. My sister was still alive, My uncle was still alive. My old high school principal was still alive. Just like so many of the people you donated to the PMC, in support of their battles with Cancer, were still fighting to stay alive.

Sadly, many of these wonderful people are now gone. However, because of the the work of Dana Farber researchers, their lives were extended and the memories that they have left us during that time, fill us all with happiness. Last night, at a fundraising dinner for The Pan Mass Challenge, I spoke to a fellow rider whose wife was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004. Every year for the past nineteen, I would see the two of them together at this dinner, fundraisers, ferry rides home from the PMC and out on the road riding. When he asked me if I had heard, I knew. She died about 2 months ago, he told me. For 20 years, I had marveled at her strength and resilience. Drugs would stop working and her cancer would return. Then another trial and another few years of remission. somehow I thought this would go on forever but, cancer is relentless, cruel and takes good people before their time. As much as we hoped it would be different, her journey ended as so many others.

Fortunately, the critical work at Dana Farber gave Diane the gift of time to see her kids grow, and she is just one example of the thousands of people directly helped by Dana Farber. For this important reason, I continue to ask all of you to support Dana Farber and the Jimmy Fund through my riding The Pan Massachusetts Challenge. Real people, real families, all supported by the amazing folks at Dana Farber who do the science like no others but, also the compassion and support like no others.

Dana Farber/Jimmy Fund was started with the mission of treating childhood Leukemia when the survival rate was ZERO. Now the survival rate is over 90%. In the past 20 years, Dana Farber has received more FDA approval for anti-cancer treatments than anyone else in the world. Breakthroughs directly attributed to, and made possible by, the donations of people like you and me to the Pan Mass Challenge. Lives saved and extended and the quality of those lives improved, all because of the dollars you have so generously provided through your donations.

Once again, I will ride 165 miles on my bike PMC Weekend with my sister Barbara in my mind and heart. However, I will also ride to again honor the memories of my mother, father, grandfather, uncle, aunt, and childhood friends who never became adults, and also your loved ones who lost their lives to cancer. I will ride the miles connected with you through the losses of those we love.

As always, I appreciate whatever donation you can make, large or small. I have committed to raise $11,000 of the PMC's 76 million dollar goal! If you are able to donate and would like to make your gift in memory of someone who has been stricken, please include their name with your donation and I will carry their name, along with Barbara’s, from start to finish.

If you would like to use a credit card and donate online, click below or go to http://www.pmc.org and click on pmc profiles. Type in Lautman, click and submit. Click on make an E gift and follow the directions.
If you would rather send a check, please email me at home and I'll send you my home address. Checks should be made payable to PMC/Jimmy Fund.

Thank you so much for your generous support over these many years.

Dave

I hope I can count on your support

The PMC raises more money for charity than any other single event in the country, more than $1 billion since 1980 and $75 million in 2024 alone! This success is the result of a lot of people riding for, and caring about, a cure. And because every penny matters, 100 percent of your donation goes to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The I've made a personal commitment to ride PMC 2025 and raise $11,000.00. I hope you can help me achieve this significant goal.