It’s 2021, the PMC is back (mostly!) and the mission continues

The Pan Mass Challenge will roll again this August after a ‘reimagined’ (unimaginable?) DIY version in 2020. Despite last year’s challenges, the 2020 DIY PMC virtual and local rides combined to raise $50M for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). Wow! Sadly, while the pandemic is slowly being pushed back, the challenges of cancer continue unabated AND complicated by covid-19. The official 2021 goal for the PMC is $52M, but, given the success of last year, we all hope to beat that! Group riding will still have some constraints, but our spirits will be high. “A lot is riding on us!”

Come what may, (rain or shine!) the PMC is back, and I’m in it for my 16th PMC. Also, I have it on good authority -- there will be no cicadas in New England in August! :-)

Why cancer research, PMC, and DFCI need your support

No question, covid-19 is a global catastrophe. In contrast, beating cancer is a life mission! The pandemic brought the world to its knees and killed 600,000 people in the US in 18 months. Cancer kills 600,000+ people in the US EVERY year. (The CDC estimates 630,000 cancer deaths and 1.9 million new cases of cancer in 2021). Clearly, we need the PMC mission more than ever. Additionally, the PMC sends 100% of your donations directly to DFCI, one of the top cancer research facilities in the world, right here in Boston.  You might know, I ride with the Patriots Platelet Pedaler team. We all donate platelets for cancer patients at DFCI. I can tell you from making platelet donations at DFCI, covid-19 effects and covid-19 protocols for the staff and patients being treated has made their work immeasurably harder!

Who are you riding for?

For 16 years, I've told the stories of family members and friends lost to cancer -- my mom, my brother-in law, my stepmom, my boss, my daughter's soccer coach (and my friend), and more. AND THE LIST NEVER GETS SHORTER. We can't bring back our loved ones who died from cancer, but together, we can treasure their memories and fight to beat the cancer that took them. The past has been written, let’s write a different future.

PMC – one year post pandemic

Following state health guidelines, 6,000 PMC riders will take to the roads the first weekend of August.  Thousands of PMC volunteers will (safely) support more than a dozen routes across Massachusetts with the help of local police, traffic control, and administration. For health constraints, there will be no overnight lodging, big group rallies, or dinners.  I’ve opted to join my teammates for a single-day century (100 mile) ride starting/ending in Wellesley on Aug 9, with supplemental individual rides that weekend. The fundraising is the same, the training is the same, and the PMC spirit will be the same. If we go through your town, come out and (safely) cheer us on as we ride by. With your help, we will make that next difference in the fight against cancer! This year will prove it again. The PMC is not about big-top tents, parties, bands, and ferry rides from P’Town. THE PMC IS ALL JUST US. The PMC is riders, volunteers, and you coming together and building a better world with the best team in the world at the Dana Farber.

The PMC challenge - closer by the mile

PMC riders know the real “challenge” part of the PMC is stepping outside our safe, little life bubbles and asking for your help in the mission against cancer. No one can say when there will be a cure for cancer. A cure might not come in time for you or me, but with all of us together, we might have a cure in time for our kids, or their kid’s kids. I DO KNOW, cancer will never cure itself! We write the future by what we do today.

So, please join us -- me, the Patriot Platelet Pedalers, and all the other PMC riders and volunteers -- in this year's mission at:

 https://profile.pmc.org/KS0135

FYI - you can also send your support as a check made out to 'Pan-Mass Challenge' or 'Jimmy Fund' to my home address (1 Sorelle Pl, Burlington, MA 01803).

Either way, we will take another step and be ‘Closer By The Mile’ to beating cancer. “There is a lot riding on this!”

Best wishes, please stay in good health, wear that mask until covid is in the rearview mirror, and Ride On!

Thanks for your support!

-Kevin