As I write this, Lisa and I are two weeks away from riding in our third Pan-Mass Challenge, a 162 mile ride from Wellesley to Provincetown, funded by our extremely generous friends and family who helped us raise nearly $40k, every penny of which went to directly fund cancer research and treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Last week, we got word that the PMC just surpassed the $1 billion mark since the ride’s inception in 1980 with the singular goal of curing cancer and improving treatment of those affected by it.
Looking back over the past year, we try to focus on the positives, which are not always easy to find considering the topic at hand. My father finished his clinical trial in early 2023 and is now 18 months removed from his last immunotherapy treatment, a streak we hope will continue. Lisa is nearly 6 years removed from kicking breast cancer’s ass and continues to inspire me with her passion for helping those diagnosed and going through treatment. Most recently, a dear friend of ours who’s “party positive attitude” is going help her win her third, and hopefully final, round with breast cancer.
This morning, I woke up in a hotel room to a text from Lisa asking me if I would go on a 60 mile ride with her this Saturday. I thought I was still dreaming. I have come to accept that she’ll never enjoy cycling as much as me (she becomes quite vulgar during steep climbs), but I cherish the time I get to spend with her training for such an impactful event, and her training pays off.
We were with our friend Ian in the final stage of last year’s ride on the approach to Provincetown into a steady headwind, when the three of us became separated in a large group. After about a mile, I found Ian and we hung back looking for Lisa. After an unsuccessful search, we figured she must have been in the group ahead of us, so we picked up our pace to try to catch her. We finally spotted her in the distance absolutely drilling it at the the front of a long pace line with the group hanging on for dear life (for those who do not ride, when you draft behind someone, you expend up to 40% less energy than the person in the front). When we caught her, now over 150 miles into the ride, she was both smiling ear to ear, and had no clue that there were 30 people hanging on her tire for a free ride!
Lisa and I feel privileged to be able to participate in such an impactful fundraiser and greatly appreciate your support towards helping us reach our fundraising goal!
Health & Happiness,
Sean
