Dear friends,

I met Janet Walsh in seventh grade. She was the new kid, and new kids always get attention, but Janet’s arrival created a cicada-loud buzz. Maybe because she arrived at the end of the year and we needed a distraction. Or maybe because this lanky blonde with the dazzling smile and the laugh heard two classrooms away was fun. And smart. And kind. We were too young to recognize, though, that what drew us to her was her outlook, her mission to tuck away disappointment and lean into the positive. When her dad died from lung cancer within a year, she focused less on her grief and more on her mom. When her mom decided to move to be closer to family, Janet shouldered the upheaval without complaint. And when her mom remarried, sending Janet to yet another high school in another town, Janet forged ahead, creating lifelong friendships at every stop.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, then, that she accepted the grim diagnosis of Stage 4 pancreatic cancer last November without self-pity. Instead, she marveled at the life she has built with her husband Tom and their three children in Seattle, how she’d like more time, but is determined to live every moment with purpose and joy. Chemo treatments are palliative, and in between she and Tom will travel, or adventure with their kids and their spouses, or ride their e-bikes around Lake Washington. She called me with her news from a Maui beach.

I dedicate my second Pan Mass Challenge ride to Janet Walsh Jones, cancer warrior. And to the other warriors who refuse to buckle. To Bob, who thought his cancer was history and now faces immunotherapy and more chemo. To Todd, who continues to write and bike and cherish his friends and family as he deals with a return of chordoma. To Lucy, who refuses to allow Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to interrupt her agenda. To Roger, who kicked his throat cancer to the curb, but is ever vigilant that life is precious. Anything could happen, he says. To Jeff, whose world was upended with a cancer diagnosis so complicated that he spent 15 weeks last fall shuttling between Mass General and Spaulding Rehab, returning home to navigate the world – including his CrossFit gym -- in a wheelchair. To all the women in my orbit who have waged war against breast cancer. I dedicate the 186-mile cycling journey on Aug. 2 and 3, 2025, from Sturbridge to Provincetown, MA, to their resilience and spirit. I will also pedal in memory of those we have lost, from Janet Schofield to Nancy Krasnow to Kerry Mahoney and Steve Holbrook. From Sheila McCarthy to Henry Longmire to Shirley Richardson and Chris Tomlinson. The list goes on and on.

With deep gratitude for those of you who donated to my ride last year – thanks to your generosity, I raised over $11,000 – I ask that you please consider supporting my 2025 Pan Mass Challenge and visit my fundraising page https://profile.pmc.org/SH0407 Even the smallest donations help. Every penny of every donation goes to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. To date, the Pan Mass Challenge has raised over $1 billion for cancer research.

Thanks so much for listening, and for your support. Here’s to beating cancer.

My best,

Sue Hertz