For the 14th time this August, I will participate as a rider in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) and bike 170 miles over two days. In it's 1980 inception, the PMC was a creative way for a few dozen friends to raise awareness for cancer research. Today, the PMC is now the most successful athletic fundraiser in the world and has raised over $1 billion cumulatively for the Dana Farber Cancer institute, including $75M in 2025 alone.
Special note this year: Excitingly, Will Cunningham, one of our founding team leaders, was asked to speak at the official opening ceremony. He will share a lot about what has motivated him and our group of the ‘next generation’ of participants to take part in the PMC and fundraise for Dana Farber. It’s a very cool acknowledgement of the growth and impact our team has had since 2019!
Why I ride
I, like most of us, have loved ones impacted by cancer. My mother continues her fight each day. Our family lost both our Grandpa Ed and Grandma Sue to cancer. The PMC has provided me with an outlet to fight back for over 20 years as both a rider and volunteer.
I also ride as part of our team “Next Generation.” We are now over 100 participants who represent a “pedal partner” named Sophia. Sophia is a big animal lover and has the jovial spirit of any four-year-old, but she also fights carcinoma and has had multiple rounds of treatments at Dana Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic.
It's rapid advancement in cancer research and care - driven by Dana Farber - and funded in a large part by this event - that has made their quality of life a possibility over the last couple decades. Without the PMC’s success since 1980, the quality of life for my grandfather and grandmother, and today’s outlook for my mother, Sophia … or anyone we love with a cancer diagnosis would be far more grim.
2025 fundraising goals:
Our team, the “Next Generation” of around 90 riders, hopes to raise $1m total this year, of which I will aim to contribute $70,000 with all of your help.
With the overwhelming support of my friends and family to date, I have raised more than $375k over the past 14 years!
I hope you will please consider donating with the links below. 100% of rider donations go to the Dana Farber Cancer institute. If you’re interested, please see more on how funds were distributed across various areas of focus in 2023!
Thank you in advance for your support in donations or well wishes!
