As you could probably guess, the group ride of the Pan Mass Challenge has been shelved this year. This August 1-2 was to be my third year participating in an event that over its 40 year span has raised a staggering $717 million for Dana Farber’s cancer research programs.

So much of what makes this event what it is goes against coronavirus-era recommended practices: thousands of riders packing into the pre-dawn starting corral; high-fives all along the route from cancer survivors, volunteers and supporters; sleeping 4-in-a-tiny-room at the midpoint in Bourne— this is not an event that was imagined with social distancing in mind. So the PMC is going “virtual” this year and will hopefully be back to normal and better than ever next year continuing its mission to find a cure for cancer. But here’s the problem: cancer is not taking a year off.

Early this spring as we had closed our restaurant down for two months and holed up at home to try to flatten the coronavirus curve, I learned that two people very close to me had been diagnosed with aggressive cancerous inflictions. My mother-in-law, Joan Bendery, and a good buddy going back to grade school days, Mike Gamache. Both quickly underwent extensive surgery and are currently undergoing treatments with the hope of getting back to a state of normalcy.

By its own standards, the PMC has a very modest goal this year of raising $41 Million ($61 Million was raised last year) and are currently more than halfway there. With the ordeals of Joan and Mike as my inspiration, I’d like to try to help the PMC get closer to that financial goal and the ultimate goal of eradicating cancer entirely. Any amount that you can contribute makes a difference- every single dollar donated goes directly to cancer research. You can find the link to my donation page here and thank you- stay safe and healthy.