As many of you might know, just after my sixth birthday my mother, Kathy Loving, passed away from lung cancer. Although I was young, I remember my mom’s battle against cancer very clearly. She fought with an unimaginable amount strength and grace I could never forget. In my mother's case, as for many lung cancer patients, this failed to be enough. Five years later, cancer struck my family once again. My father, Dennis Reilly, had been diagnosed with non-hotdgkins lymphoma. He fought with my mother's spirit, and was able to beat the cancer. Watching both my parents stugggle to endure the hardships cancer threw at them is what inspires me to ride the PMC on behalf of my family.

Throughout my last 7 years of riding, our team leader, Diane Legg, has been a beam of inspiration that keeps us pedaling towards a cure. Her legacy of fierce advoacy for lung cancer patients and research while fighting the disease herself was nothing short of exceptional. It's with both a heavy heart and a recommitted dedication to this cause that Team LUNGSTRONG will be riding in Diane's memory for the first time this August.

This year, I will continue to ride for team LungStrong in my mother's memory as well as Diane's. Lung cancer is the deadliest of cancers, yet it remains one of the most underfunded. Like my mother, half of those diagnosed with lung cancer don't smoke. However, the falsehood that lung cancer is a smoker's disease is part of what stands in the way of funding a cure. The money raised by the LungStrong team goes directly towards lung cancer research. It is this cutting edge reasearch that is crutial to saving the lives of lung cancer patients.

The decsion to commit to the 2-day ride to Provincetown will mark my 7th PMC, $32,000 I've raised to fight lung cancer, and my first year as a Heavy Hitter fundriaser. My goal of rasing $6,000 is quite an ambitious number, but the generosity I've experienced from you all has shown me we can do this. A donation of any amount truly makes a difference, and the advancemnets we have seen in research are proof of that. I would be incredibly grateful if you could join me in the fight to stop the devestating impact lung cancer has had on families like mine.

Thank you, Jessica Reilly