This is one of the hardest things I do every year. It's not the difficulty of riding my bicycle 200 miles or more over two days (I actually mostly enjoy that part), it's the thought of having to impose on nice people like you all -- my family, friends, co-workers, etc. to part with some of their hard-earned dollars. I gladly embrace all aspects of the discomfort because the need is so truly great and the cause is so worthy. Please give any amount you can and feel free to donate more than once.
I am proud to ride in support of the Pan Mass Chalenge, It is the largest atheletic fund-raising event in the country. 100 pecent of all rider-raised funds go directly to support Dana-Farber Cancer Insititute which is a world leader in adult and pediatric cancer treatment and research. The PMC is Dana-Farber’s single largest supporter and is 62 percent of the Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue. Since 1980, the PMC has raised over One Billion dollars for Dana-Farber.
My ride this year is once again and more than ever in honor of my sister-in-law, Sarah St. Jean and her family. She completed her long and heroic fight for life, and is now mercifully at peace, but I choose to continue the fight in her honor. For years her battle with a rare and extremely invasive form of appendix cancer was was defiantly triumphant and incredibly inspiring. She never gave up on life or living no matter how hard things became. And they were very hard; increasingly as so much was taken from her both phsycially and emotionally. 2023 was especially difficult -- you would truly be shocked to hear what she endured and survived as part of a course of medical treatment. While the toll has been great, what cancer was never able to take from her was an indominatible will to live and experience a full life. The picture above was taken the same day I finished PMC in 2023. I had bought us matching hats and Sarah graciously agreed to this photo even though she was far from feeling happy at that moment. Despite her increasingly frail state, we still talked, as we had for the past few years, about what it would be like when she could join the PMC ride someday. Perhaps not in the way we hoped, she will certainly be with me as I ride again this year.
Sarah, her husband Jason, and their children were forced for years to contend in increasingly difficult ways every single day with the most challenging of circumstances by no choice of their own. I have a choice to do something realtively small but still meaningful to help further their fight and so do you! As I prepare to travel 200+ miles by bicycle over two days later this year, I humbly ask you to consider any donation you can afford to further a cause that tirelessly fights the awful reality of cancer that has taken so much from so many. Thank you.
I am excited to be riding with a team of people from my employer, Fidelity Investments who have a long history of participating in this event and helping to fund the work to end pediatric brain cancer. The Fidelity team page can be viewed here