Dear Friends and Family:
Once again, it’s the time of year we all look forward to: SUMMER!! The briefest of all seasons, but so anticipated, cherished, and embraced. Long summer days offer us time to rejuvenate and relax, to enjoy friends and family and just to be one with ourselves.
Summer also usually means training time for the Pan Mass Challenge ride. This year, however, I am happily attending the weddings of two of my wonderful nieces. Coincidentally, each wedding is on one of the two PMC weekends! I am so excited that they each are tying the knot and entering the next stage of life with such wonderful partners! Welcome to the family, Alex and Will!
The fact that I am not riding the PMC this year does not change my commitment to the PMC and to raising funds for cancer research and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in honor and memory of so many others affected by this difficult disease, including my mother-in-law, Toby Berman, who fought hard for over a decade of illness, and almost always with a smile on her face and a sense of humor. Toby lost the fight when she was only 60 years old. Her life was cut short too early, and she missed ever meeting her youngest grandson, Daniel, who keeps her memory alive through his middle name. I think of so many cancer patients who are my loved ones, or loved ones of others, whose lives have been affected, and it makes me want to pedal harder* and fundraise more.
In the summer of 2022, my mom underwent chemo-therapy, a treatment which, as my mother says, one day will be viewed as archaic and barbaric. Despite that difficult summer, her cancer returned, so she tried immunotherapy. After several months, that treatment did not work, either. Thankfully, due to current cancer research, she then was offered a new modality, which has, in fact been effective and is even side effect-free. As a result, my mom has been able to joyfully celebrate her 86th birthday with her family, as well as spend lots of time with her 9 grandchildren & partners, and her four new great-grandchildren. My mom has been able to enjoy a full family life because she has felt well and her cancer thankfully is controlled.
None of us can predict or control the future. But what is within our control is our commitment to cure cancer. Please join me in the fight and donate to support the PMC. Just click on the donation link of your choice to donate online or mail a check to the PMC” to my PO Box 82, Greensboro VT 05841.
With warmth, fondness and gratitude,
Liz
*Although I am not pedaling this year, I am swimming 10 Kilometers in Lake Memphremagog in northern Vermont and am dedicating this effort as my own personal PMC challenge.
