Last year was an incredible PMC, thanks to all the donors and volunteers. The PMC passed the one billion dollar mark in total donations raised to fight cancer. Last year alone, 75 million dollars was raised and donated to Dana Farber Cancer Institute. It was exhilarating to ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown last year as part of the team that brought the PMC past that mile stone. Thank you all once again: there can never be too much thanks.
Still, there is so much more to be done. Although there has been great progress in cancer treatment and detection, there are still many cancers that are difficult to treat, and many that evade detection at early stages. The donations raised by the PMC have played an important role in Dana Farber leading the way in the fight against cancer. Research at Dana Farber contributes to nearly one-third of all newly approved cancer drugs, and Dana Farber is a leader in pushing the bounds of early detection.
Unfortunately, in addition to the many challenges to biomedical research, additional funding sources are all the more important. External sources of funding for institutions that perform cancer research is ever more important given recent changes in government support. Lack of funding could force some researchers to make difficult decisions about which promising experiments or clinical trials to follow up on. Halting a study could require that additional work is needed if the study is to be continued at a later date, some experiments might have to be repeated, increasing the cost to bring a new drug through the approval process.
This year’s PMC will be August 2nd and 3rd, starting Sturbridge and ending in Provincetown. This will be my sixth PMC, and I am looking forward to it as much as I did my first one. Team Eradicate has welcomed me as a member. PMC teams often have pedal partners, children who are being treated at Dana Farber. Please visit the PMC webpage and search for my account by name or ID (ms0777). With your donation, you join Team Eradicate and our Pedal Partners, Evie and Wolfie, and everyone who makes the PMC possible, in helping us all get “Closer by the Mile”.
Thank you, and be well,
Martin Sommer
ms0777
