Hi Friends,

I’m excited to ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) for the first time. The PMC is a two-day, 168 mile bike ride from Wellesley to Provincetown that raises money for cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. 600,000 people in the US and ~9 million worldwide die from cancer each year. PMC fundraising fuels the development of new treatments and the delivery of life-saving care to patients, benefiting patients at Dana-Farber and beyond. The work at Dana-Farber gives us hope for a better future, something we need now more than ever!

Personally, I’m proud to witness the impact of this research and care every day. Thirteen years ago, I graduated from college and moved to Boston to work as a research technician at Dana-Farber. I spent two years working to identify new treatments for pediatric leukemia. I returned to Dana-Farber in 2017 for Hematology/Oncology fellowship. I've been fortunate to learn from compassionate and committed clinicians and the best and brightest research minds in the world – all striving to make the world a better place by reducing cancer’s devastating impact. This summer I’m honored to join the faculty at Dana-Farber as a Genitourinary Medical Oncologist, providing care to people with prostate, kidney, bladder, and testicular cancer and conducting cancer research focused on developing blood tests for early cancer detection.

I’m joining my long-time mentor and friend, Dr. Mary-Ellen Taplin, and will be riding with Team IMAGINE. Every member of the team has either had cancer or has had a family member with cancer. We understand the effect of cancer on peoples’ lives and can IMAGINE how wonderful a world without cancer would be. IMAGINE a world where we can cure more people of cancer! IMAGINE a world where cancer doesn’t exist!!

Please consider joining me in this cause to make this hope a reality. Money donated to the PMC helps families that are financially overwhelmed, sponsors important research, and funds projects that help our clinics provide better care. Whether you can donate $10, $50, $100, or $500, no donation is too big or too small. Every dollar you give will go straight to the cause (the entire cost of the event is covered by corporate sponsors).

To donate to Team IMAGINE and support cancer research at Dana-Farber, visit my page on the PMC website: http://profile.pmc.org/JB0835.

Thank you for considering.

Jacob Berchuck