To my very generous supporters, both financially and spiritually,
An update on this years training & preparations for the 2019 Pan-Mass Challenge
Having now experienced 8 (I can't believe it! I am slowly creeping up on 10 years of riding to fight cancer) PMC rides, I look forward to this years ride, and hopefully, more to come. I feel honored to be among those who have raised money-- A LOT of money, to help beat cancer. In November 2018 PMC wrote a check for $56 MILLION dollars to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. You, my friends, family and supporters raised the money, I just gathered it. Together we have raised $65,000 in the last 8 years to solve cancer!!
A job well done...
Because you were so generous last year (a thousand thank you's), I’ve made my fundraising goal for this year $9,500.00.
As most of you know, I live in North Truro, Massachusetts, on old Cape Cod. Many of you know me as Outer Cape Locksmiths, the business I started 23 years ago. For years I had watched as riders in the Pan-Mass Challenge wheeled through hilly Truro on a steamy August day on their way to P-Town. I wasn't a cyclist then. I hadn't been down the arduous road of a cancer diagnosis or treatment. But I appreciated the determination that the riders had to their cause.
Then, my life changed in November of 2005.
At 67 my mother was in great health, swam laps regularly (she swam the Provincetown Swim For Life with me in 2004), ran a flower shop, and was enjoying life waiting for a grandchild soon. In the fall of 2005 my mother was diagnosed with HER2 positive breast cancer. A year later her status was changed to metastasized breast cancer. She continued to swim and workout at the local YMCA all through the cancer treatment, lamenting that she was only able to swim 6 or 7 laps... She spent time with her young grandson, and was able to enjoy the adventure of a 50th wedding anniversary cruise with her husband. When the brain stuff returned it was January 2008. A new drug was just being tried with HER2+ cancers, but it was not covered by her insurance...because it was too new! On June 1, 2008, my mothers brave battle with breast cancer ended.
Looking back to a day in late 2006 I recall a conversation I had with my mom while she was being treated for metastatic HER2+ breast cancer, she asked, Why go on? Why continue treatment? My response was, “because you don't know what someone is working on right now. You don't know if a new treatment is ready to be approved. To buy yourself time.” I know in my heart that the old saying is true “... it's just a matter of time...”
I realized during my 1st PMC ride that there was nothing that anyone could do to change my mothers outcome in her battle with HER2+ breast cancer. However, I (and that really means YOU) might change someone else's outcome. You and I, might extend someone else's life, you and I can give a better quality of life because of new cancer research, you and I can help numerous kids (and their families) navigate the turmoil of cancer treatment with the aid of the Jimmy Fund from PMC donations.
We need to buy time to develop and test new drugs and new combined therapies. Buy time to get these drugs on the market and into the hands of those who need them. In the years since my mothers death, there have been promising small steps forward in the treatment of HER2+ cancers. That's why I'm a proud rider of the PMC, because it is leading a charge to beat cancer.
I ride because I can. I ride because my mom would want me too. I ride to buy time for someone else. A thousand Thank You's, from me and from those who battle cancer and their families, who line the 192 mile route to thank the riders, it all makes a difference.The fundraising is on track, and I am eager to once again drive out to Sturbridge, MA with Judy on a hot August day, to put my bike among several thousand for the 192 mile ride back to Provincetown! How convenient to live here!! I especially love that Judy volunteered last year at the finish line in Ptown. She will be there this year too taking pictures of tired but jubilant cyclists! She has doubled her volunteer efforts and will also be at Mass Maritime on Saturday taking care of riders! Go Judy...and Thanks for volunteering!
I invite you to ride along with me by donating to the Pan-Mass Challenge, to benefit the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in honor of my mom, Christie Snow. Ride along in honor of someone you know that has fought against cancer. Ride along for the whole 192 miles from Sturbridge to Provincetown, for the Cape Cod Canal to Provincetown leg (80 miles), or for just one mile. Every mile counts. Every mile is important. And every mile costs.
Help me buy some time for someone who needs it this August. Join me in the Pan Mass Challenge.
Thank you, Karen Snow
My Links
https://vimeo.com/352763061
2013 PMC video by Ornoth
33rd PMC Promo video
