Being a parent, your worst fear is finding out that your child is sick. Unfortunately for my good friends Dave and Kristine Higgins, their worst fears came true on 01/17/2014 when their 1 ½ year old son Declan was found to have Ependymoma cancer. He had a tumor removed from his brain the following day and underwent radiation treatment a month later. Fortunately, the cancer was gone and he remains cancer free today. However, this is something that he and his parents will have to continue to monitor and possibly fight for a long time. Declan is now 5 years old and knowing all he has been through, to see him just being a kid is a true inspiration.
Ependymomas are the 6th most common brain tumor in children, with 30% of pediatric ependymomas diagnosed in children younger than 3 years of age. 200 Children are diagnosed with this type of cancer each year, and today there is no cure for it. However, with funding and research, this can change.
On August 6th, I will join more than 6,000 other cyclists in the 38th Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, a bike-a-thon that raises money for cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. This spectacular event raised $47 million last year by donating 100% of all rider raised funds to the DFCI. The PMC holds the promise of helping eradicate this disease which affects millions each year.
I will be riding the 50-mile route from Wellesley to Wellesley. To take part in this event I need to raise a minimum of $1,200 and I am asking for your help in achieving this goal. Donations are tax deductible and may be made online at http://www.pmc.org/RK0132 or to the team page at http://profile.pmc.org/tt0177. If you would prefer to write a check, please make it payable to PMC, Jimmy Fund, DFCI or any combination of the three. You can send those to me and I will send them into the PMC.
Any contribution you can make toward my ride would be most gratefully appreciated. The PMC is a way for me to not only honor those that have already succumbed to this horrible disease, like my grandfather and my aunt JoJo, but to help all those that continue to fight this day in and day out.
