PMC 2024, here we go! This year I will ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge for the 10th time! I can hardly believe that I am writing those words. When I rode in my very first PMC in 2013, I viewed this ride as a bucket list item...One and done, or so I thought...And what better year and reason to ride than 2013, to honor the fifth anniversary of the passing of my very dear friend, Missy, from cervical cancer. Well, one ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge and I knew that this is something that I had to keep doing! Why do I keep coming back year after year? Put simply, it is the amazing research and treatment that goes on at Dana Farber Cancer Institute that keeps me riding to raise funds to support DFCI.
With each passing year, the list of people in my life whose lives have been touched, and forever altered, by the horrible disease that is cancer grows. They are my reasons for riding. In 2016 (almost 8 years ago!) I added my name to that list, when I was diagnosed with HER2+ breast cancer and began treatment at Dana Farber. The PMC refers to us as Living Proof. We cancer survivors are Living Proof of the powerful, life-saving impact of the research and treatment that takes place at Dana Farber Cancer Institute...and that is why I ride! The funds raised by the Pan Mass Challenge go directly to Dana Farber, to further the ground breaking research and cutting edge treatment that is happening there every single day.
While I ride every year with very many people in my heart, this year my PMC ride is dedicated to two very special people... Maryann Paterniti, a dear ski friend who is in treatment at Dana Farber for HER2+ breast cancer, my old familiar foe; and Beth Hudson-Hankins, a good bike buddy who has been battling cancer for over a year.
Once again this year, I will be riding as a member of Team Duncan, formerly Team WOW (Women's Oncology on Wheels), which is comprised of doctors, nurses, and patients from the 9th floor (Women's Oncology), and their friends and family members. I will be riding Saturday and Sunday, August 3rd and 4th. Like last year, the PMC will follow it's traditional format, and I will be riding the 2 day, 190ish mile route, from Sturbridge to Provincetown.
The fundraising minimum for all 2-day riders is $6000. This year, however, is a SPECIAL year, both for the Pan-Mass Challenge as an event and for me personally...my TENTH Pan-Mass Challenge. 2024 is the year during which the Pan-Mass Challenge is on track to surpass the ONE BILLION DOLLAR mark for total fundraising over the history of the ride. With gratitude for all that Dana Farber has done and continues to do for me, Karen, and so many other people, I am setting a personal goal of $17,898, for my fundraising this year. That goal will bring OUR total fundraising for my 10 PMC rides to an amazing $100,000. As I have over the past several years, I am designating the funds that I raise to be directed to the research of my (and now Karen's) very caring and skilled oncologist, and friend, Dr Michael Hassett.
Each and every individual who is involved in the Pan-Mass Challenge has been touched personally and very deeply by cancer, either as a patient or as the friend or family member of one or more people who have battled this disease, or both. As I have written in previous years, I ride because I can, in honor of those who cannot, in the hope that one day cancer will not prevent ANYONE from doing anything that they want to do. In addition to riding as Living Proof, and riding in honor MaryAnn and Beth, I will always be riding in honor and memory of dear friends and family members who have passed away from cancer, and who have survived their battles with cancer.
I am very proud to ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge because I am glad to have the opportunity to receive my care at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and also because, unlike many other similar events, 100% of rider raised revenue goes directly to support the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in their tireless commitment to finding cures for all types of cancer.
