Dana Farber is My Comfort Blanket

“Why I Ride?” is not a question for me. It was one of the easiest decisions I’ve had to make in recent memory. I was diagnosed with Metastatic Breast Cancer(MBC) in December of 2021 at the ripe old age of 28 and began receiving treatment at Dana Farber very soon after. Classically, life has a concrete beginning a few middles and an end, or at least thats how my 28-year-old self always looked at it. Hearing the words “Metastatic” and “Cancer” the day I was diagnosed, I thought I had skipped my “middle” and was charging to my “end,” with maybe a few more months to live. It is because of hospitals like Dana Farber and fundraisers like the Pan-Mass Challange, that contribute millions of dollars to cancer research that create the opportunity for amazing developments and medical breakthroughs to give people like me some more time before the end.

Dana Farber continues to be at the cutting edge of cancer treatment development, study, and administration, with constant breakthroughs that change how doctors approach treatment plans.The medical community refers to Stage 4 as terminal because they have no proven method of eradicating it entirely from the body. Even if a Stage 4 patient achieves the ever ellusive ‘No Evidence of Disease’ (NED) distinction where the cancer is so minimal it becomes hard to detect in scan, cancer cells are still there, lurking and waiting to pounce. Everyone knows what chemopherapy is and while it is extremely effective for people with early stage cancers and can lead to that “cancer free” designation every cancer patient strives for, it also can be debilitating and unbearable because it is designed to attack and kill cells in ones body --both good and bad. Chemo isnt the first choice for MBC because it usually worsens quality of life without necessarily elongating it. In 2019, Dana Farber researchers discovered that CDK4/6 inhibitors, drugs approved for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, (one of which is a lovely oral chemo pill that I am currently taking) not only stop cancer cells from progressing, but actually cause some tumors to shrink. The research done by Dana Farber and other Cancer centers, like this massive development, allows for many of us MBCers and other cancer patients to have a less aggressive or specialized treatment plans to keep cancer at bay as long as possible, many more treatment lines, and live a somewhat normal life. While MBC still is a terminal diagnosis, doctors try to treat it more like a chronic disease in order to extend quality of life and prognosis for as long as humanly possible. Personally, I even forget I have cancer sometimes and even signed up for this ride; that’s how well it works!

As I get older, I’ve realized that time is one of the most precious and invaluable of resources—you can never get time back and its incredibly finite. What Dana Farber has given me it the opportunity to have more time; time to spend with family and friends, time to do the things I’ve always wanted to do, and time to give back and shine a brighter light on an issue that affects almost every human in the world in some way. Dana Farber is the reason that i'm still here, that I made it to my wedding and my 30th birthday-- not just surviving but also thriving. I will never be able to repay the gift that Dana Farber has given me but I can at least give back some of my time and energy to help such an incredible place make even greater advancements and continue to lead the way in cancer treatment breakthroughs. For all of the care, treatment, and support that I have recieved from the countless researchers, doctors, nurses, technicians, social workers, valets, phlebotomists, and administrators at Dana Farber, I couldn't imagine NOT participating in the PMC...And, selfishly, I would like to be here for an even longer time.

Dana Farber hasn’t just been a hospital to me and my family; it’s been a refuge, and second home, a comfort blanket, and a literal life saver. Dana Farber has given me a new beginning so my end can wait a little bit longer.

I'm Living Proof that the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute makes a huge impact in the Cancer community. All donations are tax dedictuble, with 100% of donations going directly to Dana Farber. Please consider donating what you can to either myself, my team (Team Breast Friends) or any of my teammates!

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