My 2024 PMC update. Early last January, I posted the following sentence: Kevin and I are riding PMC 2024 - the One in a Billion ride where the billionth dollar donated to Dana Farber will be reached. At the time, I was heading into a late-January hysterectomy due to concerns of endometrial cancer. I wondered if I might be riding this year as a living proof rider. Thankfully, we are immensely grateful there was no cancer. I thought I would be back on my bike in the spring and it would be smooth sailing to the first weekend in August. Alas, that has not been the case. About eight weeks ago, a day after my second training ride of the spring, I started having a sharp pain on the inside of my right knee. Weeks of trying to get doctor appointments and MRIs, and with no improvement, it was confirmed I somehow tore my right medial meniscus (I don't actually know how I did it. There was not an event or a moment. It just started hurting and got worse over several days.). The doctors want me to continue to be patient for another few months and do PT to see if it will heal itself. In the meantime, I know there is no way I can safely get on my bicycle. I waited and waited to post my fundraising update, hoping I would see some improvement and be able to say that I was belatedly back on my bike. But, alas, here we are just days before the PMC and I have to admit that I cannot safely get on my/Owen's bike.

So, since once you commit to a PMC ride there is no deferral for any reason, and because I am determined to be part of this One in a Billion rode in even some very small way, Kevin will be riding this weekend and I will be walking Owen's bike over the start and finish lines on Saturday and possibly on Sunday as well, if I can finish figuring out some logistics.

I know this does not make for a compelling fundraising story! However, I also know many of you wish to support the PMC and Dana Farber through me, not specifically because I can ride. So my/our ask is simply this: if you would like to make a donation, please do, but please do not feel any obligation. What this situation is virtually guaranteeing is that I will sign up again next year to try for one more ride!

Please know your above and beyond support of me both emotionally and financially continues to overflow my heart with love and gratitude. Any support you wish to give to Dana Farber through my/our rides is immensely appreciated and 100% of rider-raised dollars goes directly to Dana Farber - and is largely used for research that is so new and groundbreaking that it is not eligible for any other funding sources. The funding from the PMC truly helps create future miracles in cancer treatments.

Now for the Why I Ride part. I ride for many reasons. Too many years ago, in 1999, our dear friend Kathy McGrath Houston was diagnosed way too young with stage 4 ovarian cancer. My mother had previously died of colon cancer, and too many other loved ones had and have battled all forms of cancer. Instead of just wishing for a cure, Kathy's husband, our best man Mark, did something about it. He started Team Kathy in 2000 for friends and family to help the efforts to find a cure by riding in and volunteering for the PMC. Our entire family has been involved in some way almost every year since then. I was the only one of the four of us who had never ridden before four years ago. To the skepticism of Kevin, Owen and Briana, I had long said that I would ride the first year we were not paying tuition. That should have been in 2018. With the loss of Owen, that wasn't going to happen that year, but I was determined to make it happen in 2019, and, with the love and support of so many, I did.

Owen was hugely committed to the PMC and either rode or volunteered every year from the age of 12 until his death except for his two first years at his post-BC jobs because his start dates were too close to the PMC and he knew he would not be able to have the time to train and take the weekend off for the ride (note to all employers - if you don't already, encourage even your new employees to know that it is OK to take time to participate in a cause to which they are committed!). When I once asked Owen in high school why he was so committed to the PMC, he answered, Because so far in my life, everyone I know who has died has died of cancer. The PMC was by far his favorite weekend of the year and, as he wrote in his own profile, While these stories are riddled with pain and hardship, this weekend is one of celebration. I ride to celebrate the bravery and courage of those who have fought the battle with cancer, support those still fighting today, and contribute what I can in the fight against cancer.

Sadly, but with extra meaningful purpose, instead of riding with Owen (or sort of riding with Owen - I never assumed he would wait for me! :) ), I now ride Owen's bike, taking it over the route he loved so well and hoping he will be helping to push me along when I need it! Kevin, who is an incredibly patient coach, rides with me (and waits for me!). Last year, Briana rode with us! It wias very special. It was her second ride (her first I've was her junior year in high school!) and the first where we all rode together. Her husband, Alex, drove the personal support van (which I definitely needed!) . I will, as usual, be particularly remembering Owen and Kathy and our other good friend Eddie Walsh, who was an integral part of Team Kathy and, after his death several years ago to side effects of long ago cancer treatments, was the inspiration for Team Ed's Flakes.

While this is clearly a cancer fundraiser and a commitment to find a cure, and 100% of every rider-raised dollar goes to Dana Farber Cancer Institute, I always keep in my thoughts and prayers during the ride anyone my donors ask me to, living or deceased, who have battled with, or are currently battling with, cancer or suicide or suicidality. So, if you wish, send any names to me.

Thank you for your support of me and Kevin and of this cause to find a cure for all forms of cancer. As the PMC slogan says, Closer by the Mile.

About the PMC: The largest single athletic charity event in the country, the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), brings together thousands of impassioned cyclists, committed volunteers, generous donors and dedicated corporate sponsors each year. Together, they provide Dana-Farber’s doctors and researchers the necessary resources to discover treatments and cures for all types of cancer.

Since 1980, the Pan-Mass Challenge has raised $976 million in support of lifesaving cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In 2023, the PMC made a record gift of $72 million and will break a cumulative total of one billion dollars with this year's gift..

Help the PMC get closer by the mile by joining thousands of participants in #PMC2024, the 45th PMC. Learn more on www.PMC.org.