Dear Friends,

I am raising funds for the 2024 PMC as a Virtual Rider this year. I am still committed to the PMC and it's mission of raising funds for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Let's help the PMC get to 1 billion dollars!  As always, thank you for your donation. 

Rick

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2022

2021 was a tough year for me regarding cancer. Melanoma recurred in my upper lip area. I had the first of four surgeries on the Monday following the 2021 PMC ride. Over the next three months I had additional surgeries resulting in the removal of lymph nodes and a full graft above my lip. Fortunately, to date, no further treatment has been required. As you can imagine, this cause is as important to me now as when I started in 2011. On August 6th and 7th, I will ride and hope you can help with a donation. PLEASE REMEMBER, EVERY RIDER RAISED DOLLAR GOES DIRECTLY TO THE DFCI/JIMMY FUND

I am a member of the Rockland Trust team this year. I look forward to working with team members to raise as much money for the PMC as we can.

Cancer affects all of us, including family members, friends or through personal experience. The gains made in fighting cancer have been incredible and the work needs to continue. Government funding for cancer research is down and the PMC continues to play an important role in cancer research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Please remember family, friends and co-workers who have been affected by cancer and join me again in this important fundraising effort.

A few years ago, I had the privilege to visit the 14 story Yawkey Center at the DFCI and hear how this building was designed with input from cancer patients. Importantly, I heard about the new and exciting cancer research directly funded by PMC dollars. I can verify that your PMC donation truly makes a difference in the care and treatment of cancer patients.

The response, over the past 12 years, to my fund raising pleas has been incredible. I wish to thank all of you. Please take a moment and help me raise even more money in 2021. Remember, EVERY DOLLAR you contribute goes directly to cancer research and patient care at the DFCI. Thanks.

My story (below) wriitten for my first year (2011) of fund raising provides further detail on why I am riding in the PMC.

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I am a survivor of four types of cancer.

I am riding in the PMC to raise money so that the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute can continue with life-saving cancer research and treatment. My hope is that someday, perhaps in my son’s lifetime, a diagnosis of cancer will not be the life altering diagnosis it has been for me and others around me.

Every dollar I raise goes directly to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute for research and treatment of cancer. Since 1980, the PMC has raised over $750 million for cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber. The PMC generates nearly half of the Jimmy Fund's annual revenue, every rider supports the efforts of more than 3,000 DFCI faculty and staff members as they make countless advances that have become the standard of cancer care and research.

Cancer has been a part of my life for at almost three decades. I have been treated for: melanoma, Merkel cell, squamous cell and basal cell. I have endured three significant cancer surgeries, five months of chemotherapy, seven weeks of radiation treatment, countless minor surgeries and endless doctor visits and tests.

In late 2009, cancer managed to butt into my life again. This time, it was the side effects of cancer treatment that caught up with me. While I was working at my home computer one evening in late November, something went terribly awry. I was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where it was determined that I had suffered a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA); the stroke-like symptoms fortunately receded after a few hours. Five weeks and three hospitals later, I made it through five hours of surgery to repair my right carotid artery, which had been severely damaged by radiation treatment that I received for Merkel Cell cancer in 1997.

Has cancer touched your life? If it has, you too know the endless pain and disruption it can cause to your life as well as the lives of your loved ones.

I have admired the bravery of family, friends and co-workers as they dealt with their own, often devastating, diagnoses of cancer and subsequent treatment. Many, like me, survived. Others, including my Dad, were not as fortunate.

Please help me achieve my goal. I need your help.

You may make an e-gift donation here by clicking on the Donate To My Ride button.