I am proud to be riding in my third PMC in August! This year, I am honored to be joining Team Duncan for the first time - Team Duncan is named in memory of Duncan’s Mom, Duncan Driscoll Finigan. She was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in October 2014 and passed in May 2019.
I never got the chance to meet Duncan, but her infectious energy, and her passion towards cancer advocacy and awareness is so palpable - she was the first employee at OOFOS and launched their Project Pink program, where OOFOS donates a percentage of all sales on OOFOS.com to Dana Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund (you can read more about the program at this link). She was also an incredibly talented athlete, having played tennis and skied at Boston College, ran many marathons, and ridden in 5 Pan Mass Challenges herself.
The majority of my fundraising this year will go directly towards the Breast Cancer Research Fund and the development of clinical trials that extend patient’s lives. This is especially meaningful to me as a way to also support so many people in my life (like my own mother and grandmother, among others) who have been impacted by breast cancer.
I've completed two previous PMCs over last two years with The Peregrine Pedalers in memory of Eleanor Robinson, a mighty and inspiring mentor and someone I considered family, who died January 2, 2022 to this disease after a 5 year battle - read her full obituary here. While its bittersweet not to be riding for this team, a percentage of my fundraising will also be going towards Dr. Pasi Janne’s Dana Farber Non-Small Cell Cancer Research Lab (http://jannelab.org/) - Dr. Pasi Janne’s lab.
While I ride in honor of these two inspiring women, I also ride for the members of my family who have battled cancer with such grace and courage over the years (my mom, Alixe, Grandad, Granny, my Grandfather, and many others). The silver lining to the pain and confusion that circles cancer is that we do have a place to channel it towards good, and that is through this race. I hope your donation gives you a sense of pride, repose, and hope as well!
I've made a commitment to ride ~170 miles through PMC 2024 and raise $6,000.00. I hope you can help me SURPASS this significant number, because as the PMC motto goes: every donation brings us closer by the mile! It means everything to me to have your support, and my appreciation is limitless!