It’s hard to believe that my 10th Pan Mass Challenge ride is coming up. These past 10 years we have seen family and friends triumph against cancer yet, we have also lost family and friends to cancer. Cancer really does suck.
Each first weekend in August, rain or shine, 6,500+ riders and 4,000+ volunteers come together and accomplish something so very special and inspiring. We ride bikes and fundraise for Dana Farber and the Jimmy Fund in Boston. This year the PMC will surpass a major milestone, $1,000,000,000 in donations since 1980.
It’s one big family that has an annual family reunion on the first weekend in August. Yes, we have fun and laugh. But, for as much as we have fun and laugh, we also shed many tears because each rider, each volunteer, all of those who stand on the side of the roads, and all of you, have a story to share on how cancer has impacted their lives.
Leah, our PMC Pedal Partner since 2022, will be part of the 2024 PMC team again. Leah continues to receive treatments for her cancer (Medulloblastoma). Her strength and smile continue to inspire so many of us. Both myself and my cousin, Chris Nikolis, are looking forward to seeing Leah on PMC Weekend.
To my family, to my PMC family, to my friends and to the strangers I have met along this incredible journey who are now friends, I cannot thank you enough for your humbling support.
In my first PMC, I rode for Hope, Theo Jimmy, Billy, George, and Jimmy. I am once again humbled to do so, as well as ride in honor of and in memory of many others for their battles against cancer.
As I have concluded each of my previous messages: Think of the worst day you recently had at work or at school, or how your kids were acting up, or the disagreement you had with your spouse, or all of the above and then think of that adult or child at Dana Farber who went through another round of treatments, and ask yourself “What kind of day is he or she having?”
Please consider supporting my ride in this year’s Pan Mass Challenge. Thank you and God bless.
Lou
