Dear Friends,
For the 19th time, I sit down to write my Pan Mass Challenge fundraising letter. For the 18th time, I take more than a few days to pause and think about why I keep getting back on my bike. Is it the tug at my heart when I ride up to an out of shape dad with a picture of his son pinned to the back of his jersey? Is it the sadness I feel when I read, In Memorium, written in Sharpie at the bottom of the photograph? Is it the silence that suddenly surrounds me as my fellow riders and I, ride past hundreds of pictures of kids being treated at Dana Farber? Is it the connection I feel with my fellow riders and volunteers, who spend this special weekend working to defy and defeat Cancer?
Of course, it is all of these, and more, that explain why I keep asking all of you to support Dana Farber and the Jimmy Fund through my riding The Pan Massachusetts Challenge. We are all connected by the struggles of our family and/or friends who have battled cancer. Who, among us, has not been impacted directly or indirectly by this terrible disease? So many lives cut short. So many anniversaries, graduations and birthdays missed.
Your notes and letters that, arrive with your donations over the years, also inspire me to continue to ride. I have carried the names of many of your loved ones on my back and it has truely been an honor to do so. It is also the promise and the hope that one day the money donated by you, in support of my riding, will bring a day when cancer will be cured. So much progress has been made by Dana Farber researchers and doctors. It is just amazing what they have accomplished over the past 19 years. Lives have been saved and extended, the quality of the lives of patients served at Dana Farber 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 $10,000 of the PMC's 75 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 on line, 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
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