In November, 2015, my brother, Evan Schumacher, died from cancer. He was 46.

Evan was my best friend, and I miss him every day. He died from a rare form of cancer - cholangiocarcinoma, bile duct cancer. Evan fought it heroically for 19 months, trying every treatment available, scouring the registries for clinical trials. He always said if he just had a little time, he knew that the treatment that could extend his life was right around the corner. Evan was the eternal optimist, right until the end.

This is my ninth year riding the Pan-Mass Challenge. Once again, I will be riding again with Team Evan. Our little team has raised more than $330,000 for cancer research since we launched the team in 2016. As always, 100% of the funds we raise support the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. In particular, Team Evan directs all of the funds we raise to Evan's oncologist, Dr. James Cleary at Dana Farber. Dr. Cleary and his team have put your donations to great use. Cholangiocarcinoma is rare and difficult to treat. With your help, Dr. Cleary is performing cutting-edge research that is getting him closer to developing effective treatments for this disease. Dr. Cleary and his team are developing cultures from cholangiocarcinoma and gall bladder cancer patients that will serve as models so scientists can test novel therapies to treat these diseases. To do this, they need to obtain and test biopsy specimens from patients with these cancers - and that's expensive. Dr. Cleary is leading a consortium of scientists at Dana Farber who have shown great interest in treating this awful disease. Funding for their laboratory models will hopefully lead to clinical trials, which offers the best hope for bile duct cancer patients.

The research is promising, but they need our support more than ever. So please donate to our ride. No amount is too small. You can donate to my ride or to the Team Evan page; it all goes to the same place. Here is the Team Evan page: http://profile.pmc.org/TE0070

Thanks so much for your support!

PS click on Evan's picture to see a gallery!

Love,

David