Two years ago, in anticipation for 4th of July weekend, I came up with a spontaneous plan. I decided to bike solo from my Boston apartment to Chatham, approximately 100 miles, to kick the weekend off with a memorable underscore. I had just bought a new bike a couple of weeks prior and thought of no better way to break it in.
As friends and family learned about my ride, I was asked, “What made you want to bike that far?”. There was no universal calling, as it was simply answered by “Biking all day sounded better than sitting in 3 hours of Cape traffic.” Once I got to The Cape, I met Billy Starr who founded the Pan Mass Challenge along with his wife Meredith. They then asked if I wanted to ride the PMC the following year, which I happily agreed to. The PMC team I would be joining is a Cape Cod based team that supports Dr. Reardon, the Clinical Director for Neuro-Oncology at Dana Farber, and his research on Brain Cancer.
Fast forward to ten months later. My family and I were sitting deadpan on the same couch thousands of others have sat on at Dana Farber, waiting for the result of my Mom’s biopsy. After having tumor resection surgery a week prior, the news was tenderly delivered that my 59-year-old mother was diagnosed with grade four brain cancer called Glioblastoma. It seemed to echo in the room resembling a yell between the faces of two mountains, each reverberation a reminder of how things would change. With weeks to digest it all, I’m still trying to pinpoint if it’s fate, irony, or the worst misfortune you can ever find yourself in.
Glioblastoma is an aggressive, rare type of brain cancer with only ~13,000 cases annually in the U.S. As a result of this, only 1% of cancer funding goes to rare brain cancer like Glioblastoma. At this rate, it would take about 150 years to match breast cancer’s progression.
My goal is to fundraise for Glioblastoma research and spread awareness about this disease. 100% of the Pan Mass Challenge donations go directly to Dana Farber cancer research. Your donations will support Dr. Reardon’s innovative research for a cure, serving my mom and others like her. Thank you for reading and your continued support and love.
