PMC Year 11
2025 is my 11th Year riding the PMC!
Eleven years riding the Pan Mass Challenge to support the life changing work of the Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute. It doesn’t get old. This work is important, and its personal.
Cancers kill over 650,000 people each year in the United States alone. Research is making a difference! Dana Farber is finding cures that are shared across the world. Earlier detection and intervention, treatments, remission and cure for many more cancers today than a few years ago. There’s more to do. A lot is riding on this.
This year I will ride 187 miles for the PMC on August 2nd and 3rd from Babson College Wellesley to Provincetown MA.
I hope you’ll read my 8 reasons why I ride the PMC. I am all in for this. But many of you have been seeing the earlier editions of this letter for the last 9 years and once you read it you know….
I hope you’ll read my 8 reasons why I ride the PMC.
I am asking for your support through:
· A Donation, if this is something you can do; and
· A Tribute to you or someone in your life who has suffered with cancer to add to my Tribute List; and
· Be a part of my PMC community. Whether you can donate or note, allow me to update you on this epic venture and invite you to cheer along
My fund raising goal is $28,000. That’s $150 for each of those 187 miles!
Will you help? Can you fund half a mile?...one mile?....two miles?....five miles?....ten miles? Every contribution helps cure cancer and we are closer by the mile.
You can donate by:
1. Credit Card
Click on the links under “Support My Ride” below my picture on my PMC page and Select an amount that’s right for you
2. Check
Make your check payable to “PMC” and mail it to me, John Lees, 16 Gurney Street, Cambridge MA 02138
3. Venmo
Point your cell phone camera at the PMC Venmo logo
If your employer has a Matching Gift Program please apply and make your donation go even further.
If you are outside the USA you can still donate. Enter “02494” in the zip code field and you will then see an option to select your country.
Will you contribute to my TRIBUTE FLAGS?
Tell me the names and a little of their story. I will fly a tribute ribbon for them on my ride jersey. If you are a survivor or going through treatment please tell me and I will fly a tribute flag and ride for you.
The Eight reasons Why I ride the PMC:
#1 This is Personal
In 2009 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Early diagnosis gave me time to review my options. In February 2014 I had successful surgery and I am cancer free today.
I am lucky, I give thanks and I ride to give back.
#2 In Tribute
I ask those who donate to my ride to provide “Tributes”. The names of loved ones passed or fighting the disease or in remission. I carry these names as “Tribute Flags” on my ride jerseys. Last count there are around 232 names in tribute. The flags are the wind at my back.
#3 In Honor of Barbara Leibold.
Barbara, husband Chuck and daughter Allison have been our family vacation buddies for decades. Barbara is in treatment for cancer and so she is my special tribute for 2025.
Barbara, this one’s for you!
#4 In Honor of team FLAMES survivors and our team Doctors and Nurses.
Team FLAMES has many riders who have been touched by cancer personally and are dedicated to doing something about it. It’s the original reason a lot of us ride. Sixteen doctors and nurses from Dana Farber are part of our team. Their energy and dedication is just amazing. The FLAMES burn for life.
#5 I believe in Dana Farber research. It makes the difference.
There is real reason for hope and even confidence that we will continue to cure more cancers. The chances for survival and cure go up every year. Doctors find new solutions and treatments improve every year. There are now several members of team FLAMES who have seen their cancers driven into remission by treatments that were developed through team FLAMES funding.
PMC funding is a big part of the solution. Many of the breakthroughs in curing Lymphoma and Leukemia in recent years is not what we people expect. Most of the breakthroughs are not new drugs. Most are combination and improvement of existing drugs and treatments. A drug that has a breakthrough with curing 20% of cases can be lifted to 80% of cases in research driven combination treatments. Right now this is the direction of much of the breakthroughs.
The problem is that this combination of therapy holds no benefit for the pharma companies and so they won’t fund the research, so funding has come either from Government Grants or the PMC. Here is just one example: Dana Farber runs the genome sequence of every cancer that comes in the door and is building a database that links every cancer’s genome to the course of treatment. The potential of pattern recognition to improve treatments and finding cures is enormous. The several million dollars per year this initiative requires is funded directly by PMC donations.
#6 Dana Farber Research has a global multiplier effect.
Dana Farber research is published and shared all around the world and Dana Farber specialists consult across the globe. The patients treated physically at Dana Farber are a small fraction of the total impact of this amazing research center. As they say at Dana Farber, “What we do here changes lives everywhere.” I am asking you to contribute with me to an organization that has impact, not just in Boston or New England but across the globe.
#7 Every cent of your donation goes to the Research.
The costs of running the PMC event and organization are paid by the riders and sponsors and not from your donation.
#8 Each Year we commit with our own donation. We are all in for PMC
I won’t ask you to do something I don’t do myself.
For all of these reasons above, my wife Ellen and I are all in. We make a four figure donation to PMC each year. We also make donations to support new and young riders and watch with excitement as they become part of the PMC.
Whether you donate or not, will you be a part of my PMC Community?
I want to share the PMC with you because it’s a great thing. But I know that not everyone can donate to every worthwhile cause. If you can’t donate to my ride for any reason, I understand and I hope you will still consider yourself part of my PMC community.
If you would prefer not to hear from me, please let me know and I’ll take you off my list.
Thank you for your support.
John Lees
My Links
My PMC Page
2023 Dana Farber Docs and Patients Talk about What PMC Funds Do
Dr Ed.Benz Where the money goes
What a Bike was Meant to Do
2018 FLAME Julie Wisnia Ad on Channel 4/WBZ-Boston
FLAMES Neil Goldberg interviewed by Lisa Hughes and Channel 4 Anchor in 2014
