This is my fourth year participating in the Pan-Mass Challenge as part of Team Kermit in the effort of raising critical funds for Pediatric Brain and Spinal Cancer Research. Working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Bando Lab (https://bandolab.org/) at the DFCI and listening to patients and their families has taught me three things:
1) Pediatric tumors are biologically VERY different from adult cancers, and need to be studied and treated as their own entities,
2) there are a lot of new and exciting directions for more targeted and efficacious therapies for pediatric cancers, and
3) we are currently nowhere near where we need to be.
If you have the means, I would be very grateful for your support, as every dollar will fund crucial cancer research.
*Of note, Team Kermit funds for the PMC are earmarked for the Jared Branfman Sunflowers For Life Fund For Pediatric Brain And Spinal Cancer Research, supporting low-grade glioma research. The story behind Team Kermit, as told by the fearless leader of the team, Steven Branfman is pasted below:
_____
Team Kermit rides the PMC in honor and memory of all of the people whom our teammates hold dear. What brings us together as a team is friendship and the common bond of honoring and remembering our dear son, brother and friend Jared. Team Kermit was formed in 2005 by Ellen, Adam, Jared, myself, and our friends while Jared was undergoing treatment at the Jimmy Fund. Adam, the team, and I rode, while Ellen and Jared volunteered, Jared doing bicycle repairs from a wheelchair. The team is named for Kermit the Frog of Sesame Street fame. Kermit was one of Jared's favorite childhood characters and represents the ability that people have to rise above the ordinary in order to achieve great results. Kermit's theme It's not easy being green became Jared's mantra and helped him endure and even laugh through the often grueling treatments. Jared was the epitome of determination, resolve, dedication, bravery, and passion. Kermit inspired Jared and reminded him and all of us that we are limited only by our own dreams and desires. In September 2005, after our second PMC, Jared passed away after a 2 1/2 year battle with the disease. He was 23 years old. In 2006 we established the Jared Branfman Sunflowers For Life Fund For Pediatric Brain And Spinal Cancer Research at the Jimmy Fund. All the money raised by Team Kermit goes through the PMC and into our fund. It supports research into the family of brain tumors that Jared had, and is helping to make the dream of no more cancer a reality. It is a fitting legacy to Jared's wish to help others. To date, Team Kermit has raised $4.1million. Listen to Dr. Mark Kieran, Former Director, Pediatric Medical Neuro-Oncology, and the former administrator of our fund, talk about the advancements that have been, and are being made, because of your support: https://vimeo.com/217691250
2022 marks our 19th PMC as a family, our 18th as Team Kermit, and Team Kermit is growing every year. In 2012 my family and Team Kermit was honored by being featured in the PMC Opening Ceremonies that was aired live on Chronicle Magazine. Here is the piece. Our story begins at the 2:15 mark: http://tinyurl.com/d2od42n In 2017 my personal story was featured in the PMC Opening Ceremonies and aired live on WBZ-TV. https://boston.cbslocal.com/video/3709678-pmc-opening-ceremonies-steven-branfmans-pmc-journey We ride determined to see that cancer becomes a thing of the past.
We are men and women, young and old, spanning nine decades, and hail from California, Oregon, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Ontario, and Massachusetts. Some of our teammates are brand new to cycling and first time PMCers while others are well seasoned riders and PMC veterans including a teammate doing his 31st PMC. We are friends, relatives, husband and wife pairs, father-son, mother-son, father-daughter, mother-daughter and brother-sister duos. Many of us are cancer survivors ourselves. One of our teammates rode a portion of the route while she was undergoing treatment and the following year did the full ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown. We ride not only remembering and inspired by Jared and in honor of our young pedal partners Declan Rourke and Declan Vail, but each for their loved ones and friends who have been stricken by the devastating effects of cancer. Team Kermit will be on the road from Sturbridge to Provincetown on August 7th and 8th and hope that you'll be there with us helping to fulfill Jared's hope and his legacy...........to rid the world of this terrible disease so that your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren never have to hear the word cancer again.
best wishes and love to all,
For Team Kermit; Steven, Ellen, and Adam Branfman
This is my fourth year participating in the Pan-Mass Challenge as part of Team Kermit in the effort of raising critical funds for Pediatric Brain and Spinal Cancer Research. Working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Bando Lab (https://bandolab.org/) at the DFCI and listening to patients and their families has taught me three things:
1) Pediatric tumors are biologically VERY different from adult cancers, and need to be studied and treated as their own entities,
2) there are a lot of new and exciting directions for more targeted and efficacious therapies for pediatric cancers, and
3) we are currently nowhere near where we need to be.
If you have the means, I would be very grateful for your support, as every dollar will fund crucial cancer research.
*Of note, Team Kermit funds for the PMC are earmarked for the Jared Branfman Sunflowers For Life Fund For Pediatric Brain And Spinal Cancer Research, supporting low-grade glioma research. The story behind Team Kermit, as told by the fearless leader of the team, Steven Branfman is pasted below:
_____
Team Kermit rides the PMC in honor and memory of all of the people whom our teammates hold dear. What brings us together as a team is friendship and the common bond of honoring and remembering our dear son, brother and friend Jared. Team Kermit was formed in 2005 by Ellen, Adam, Jared, myself, and our friends while Jared was undergoing treatment at the Jimmy Fund. Adam, the team, and I rode, while Ellen and Jared volunteered, Jared doing bicycle repairs from a wheelchair. The team is named for Kermit the Frog of Sesame Street fame. Kermit was one of Jared's favorite childhood characters and represents the ability that people have to rise above the ordinary in order to achieve great results. Kermit's theme It's not easy being green became Jared's mantra and helped him endure and even laugh through the often grueling treatments. Jared was the epitome of determination, resolve, dedication, bravery, and passion. Kermit inspired Jared and reminded him and all of us that we are limited only by our own dreams and desires. In September 2005, after our second PMC, Jared passed away after a 2 1/2 year battle with the disease. He was 23 years old. In 2006 we established the Jared Branfman Sunflowers For Life Fund For Pediatric Brain And Spinal Cancer Research at the Jimmy Fund. All the money raised by Team Kermit goes through the PMC and into our fund. It supports research into the family of brain tumors that Jared had, and is helping to make the dream of no more cancer a reality. It is a fitting legacy to Jared's wish to help others. To date, Team Kermit has raised $4.1million. Listen to Dr. Mark Kieran, Former Director, Pediatric Medical Neuro-Oncology, and the former administrator of our fund, talk about the advancements that have been, and are being made, because of your support: https://vimeo.com/217691250
2022 marks our 19th PMC as a family, our 18th as Team Kermit, and Team Kermit is growing every year. In 2012 my family and Team Kermit was honored by being featured in the PMC Opening Ceremonies that was aired live on Chronicle Magazine. Here is the piece. Our story begins at the 2:15 mark: http://tinyurl.com/d2od42n In 2017 my personal story was featured in the PMC Opening Ceremonies and aired live on WBZ-TV. https://boston.cbslocal.com/video/3709678-pmc-opening-ceremonies-steven-branfmans-pmc-journey We ride determined to see that cancer becomes a thing of the past.
We are men and women, young and old, spanning nine decades, and hail from California, Oregon, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Ontario, and Massachusetts. Some of our teammates are brand new to cycling and first time PMCers while others are well seasoned riders and PMC veterans including a teammate doing his 31st PMC. We are friends, relatives, husband and wife pairs, father-son, mother-son, father-daughter, mother-daughter and brother-sister duos. Many of us are cancer survivors ourselves. One of our teammates rode a portion of the route while she was undergoing treatment and the following year did the full ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown. We ride not only remembering and inspired by Jared and in honor of our young pedal partners Declan Rourke and Declan Vail, but each for their loved ones and friends who have been stricken by the devastating effects of cancer. Team Kermit will be on the road from Sturbridge to Provincetown on August 7th and 8th and hope that you'll be there with us helping to fulfill Jared's hope and his legacy...........to rid the world of this terrible disease so that your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren never have to hear the word cancer again.
best wishes and love to all,
For Team Kermit; Steven, Ellen, and Adam Branfman
| 2023 | $3,000.00 | Reimagined |
| 2022 | $3,470.00 | Reimagined |
| 2021 | $5,250.00 | Wellesley Century |
| 2020 | $1,775.70 | PMC Rider |
