Drew and I couldn't be more excited to ride in our 4th Pan Mass Challenge in August! Our team, Conquering the Great Hill, continues to grow in size as we strive to help with the fight against cancer. We have never been more inspired to lace up our shoes, pull on our spandex and ride our hardest and fastest across the state of Massachusetts. When our muscles get tired, our bodies start to ache and we want to quit, we remind each other that these feelings are so trivial compared to immense struggles that cancer patients face daily. With that thought, we are instilled with an invigorating sense of energy to pedal harder and hope that with each mile we ride we get closer to finding a cure for this horrific disease

IT GOT PERSONAL...AGAIN:

We just recently we received the unfortunate news that my mother-in-law, Brenda, has an evolving acute myeloid leukemia. While this diagnosis is new and the future is still uncertain, one thing that we know for sure is that Brenda is receiving the absolute best care in the world with Dr. DeAngelo at Dana-Farber. For those of you that know Brenda, she is so unbelievably thoughtful, altruistic and kindhearted. Our hearts are broken that she has to go through this! While there is so much out of our control right now, one thing that we can all do is raise money to fund more research in effort to lead to better outcomes of this disease.

Additionally, as most of you know in January of 2012, just one week after my 28th birthday, I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. I was incredibly fortunate to receive compassionate and personalized care from my wonderful oncologist at Dana-Farber Dr. Partridge, who is truly a world leader and pioneer in the fight against breast cancer in young women. Dr. Partridge leads the only Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer that exists in the country. The Young and Strong Program focuses specifically on helping young woman overcome the unique set of challenges that accompany a cancer diagnosis at a young age. Knowing that fertility preservation was of extreme importance to me, Dr. Partridge created an individualized treatment plan with this as a main focus. I am incredibly thankful that I am now 5 years out from my diagnosis and 4 years from the completion of chemotherapy. Given this huge milestone I have never been more ready to kick some serious PMC ass! To show our immense gratitude to Dr. Partridge and her amazing care, half of our proceeds from our team “Conquering THE Great Hill” will go directly to the Young and Strong Program.

IN MEMORY OF CRAIG “SKIP” LOUCKS

Drew and I are also riding in memory of Drew’s father Craig Loucks who lost his battle with cancer in 2010 at the age of 60. Craig aka the “Big Man” was always larger than life and touched the hearts of everyone who was blessed enough to know him. It is hard to believe it has been 6 years since his passing but not a day goes by when we don’t think of him and we know that his spirit continues to live on. We will ride in his memory as we raise money to push research forward in the fight against cancer.

IN HONOR OF:

Lastly, we will also be riding in honor of other family and close friends who have battled or are battling cancer. We will be thinking of them along the ride and wish them the best on their fight against cancer.

We ride in honor of:

Lois Fitzpatrick

Cameron Helmuth

Joanne Henderson

Helen Borden Loucks

Alex Lynch

Robert Mara

Connie Mara

Meghan Martin

Tom Martin

Annie Powell

Tara Shuman

Doug Taylor

Susan Tews

Bridget Widmaier