Dear friends, family, colleagues and former patients,
2024 will mark the 12th Pan Mass Challenge ride for Team Grateful Living with a two day, 162 mile ride from Wellesley to Provincetown. I am excited to celebrate my 12-year survival by riding with my teammates surrounded by thousands of highly motivated PMC riders.
As my longtime supporters know, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma after sustaining a fracture in my neck in April, 2012. I AM LIVING PROOF of the power of scientific discovery, novel medications, and a stem cell transplant performed at Dana Farber. I am grateful for my health and for the love and support of my family, friends, physicians and all who contribute to this cause.
Multiple myeloma remains an incurable cancer, but the treatments continue to evolve allowing many (like me) to live normal lives. However, not all myeloma patients are as fortunate as I, with an overall five-year survival of 55% and a ten-year survival of only 30%.
Over the past decade I have met many people with myeloma and the disease has impacted the lives of friends, colleagues and family. The prognosis varies significantly based on the genetic profile of the myeloma cells, thus clinical trials with novel medications are critical to improving survival in patients with multiple myeloma. Our ride will support the Multiple Myeloma Clinical Research Program at Dana Farber headed by Dr. Paul Richardson.
The Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center and LeBow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute provide comprehensive care to patients with multiple myeloma. These two centers encompass a large, international team of laboratory-based and clinical investigators who are striving to find more effective therapies for multiple myeloma and someday a cure.
If you would like to make a donation in support of our ride, please use the following link: https://donate.pmc.org/JH0402. Every dollar donated will go directly to the Myeloma Clinical Research Program at DFCI. Thanks to your incredible generosity, Team Grateful Living has raised $943,282 over the past eleven years years. Our goal is to reach the $1M mark this year and to help the PMC cross the $1B threshold since inception!!
With gratitude, Jo
