This year will be my 41st year riding the PMC. For the first five of the last seventeen years, I captained a fund-raising team for the PMC called Team Alpana, named for a young, smart, vivacious colleague at my law firm, Foley & Lardner. who died of cancer, way too early.
I was unfortunately inspired to change the name of my team--not because we no longer ride for Alpana--we do; but because, in May thirteen years ago, I lost a very close and very dear friend of over forty years to this dreaded disease. Bill Copacino was a wonderful and loving husband, father and brother, a great friend, and a great guy. He was also an accomplished athlete and an extraordinarily successful businessman and philanthropist. It was only seventeen short days between the date Bill learned that the cancer he had battled for 10+ years had metastasized and his death. Yet, during that time, Bill was the warm, gracious, charming, funny, energetic and incredibly organized human being he had always been--only more so. In those seventeen days, Bill accomplished more than the rest of us ordinarily accomplish in a year. He made sure his personal affairs were in order (I'm sure they already were), personally went out and purchased a family cemetery plot and planned his funeral, facilitated the transition of his Board chairmanship at the Carroll School to his successor, informed and said good-bye to his many friends, spent loving time with his wife, brothers and family, attended his daughter's high school softball games (she subsequently became a starter for four years on a Tufts Division III team that was national champion for two of those years and is now a physician), and attended the college graduations of his twin sons--one in upstate New York and one in Atlanta, Georgia (one is now teaching at the Carroll School, and the other just graduated medical school). Bill was, and always will be, an inspiration, and with his passing, the world is a lesser place. He is truly missed.
About four years after Bill's passing, I had another sad, but very good reason to ride. Another of my very closest friends from college, Jim Gordon, lost his extraordinarily valiant, difficult fight against multiple myeloma. After five separate hospitalizations over a one year period, Jim received a bone marrow transplant and underwent massive bouts of chemotherapy. The prognosis initially looked good, but things turned in an ominous direction and, though he fought the good fight with incredible grace and good humor, ultimately cancer won. Jim was a great guy, a great friend, and a tough cookie. His extraordinary support system, comprised of a LEGION of MANY friends and family, was a wonderful testament to both him and his wife Ann. Jim was another true friend I was lucky to have, and I, and all who knew Jim, miss him and think of him (and think of that twinkle that was always in his eye) often, and with a smile.
Two years ago, I lost another close friend to cancer. Yossi Biederman was another exceptional person I was lucky to know. A wonderful and proud husband, father and grandpa, Yossi was also a world renowned child psychiatrist and teacher who did extraordinary good for his many patients and students and earned the love and respect of all with his charm, intelligence and sense of humor.
This past year, I had my own experience with cancer (fortunately early detected prostate cancer with good surgical results)--hopefully for the last time. Dana Farber was a central part of that expericence, and I witnessed, first hand, the thoughtful, compassionate, exceptional care and guidance they offer their patients. Needless to say, the experience has only deepened my commitment to help fund cancer research and to stop cancer.
I am fortunate to be joined on Team Bill, yet again, by my daughter Alex, my son David, and our friend Kennie Taylor. Team Bill rides for Yossi Biederman, Jim Gordon, Bill Copacino, Alpana Kumar, for many other friends who also battle this disease (a number that unfortunately increases each year), and for everyone else who is battling, has battled, or who cares for someone who is battling or has battled, cancer.
During the last 40 years, I have watched the PMC grow into an incredibly efficient, effective, and innovative fund-raising juggernaut, which does extraordinary work on behalf of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's research efforts. I have also watched the PMC become a gigantic family, which has built a unique sense of camaraderie and mission-driven focus among riders, volunteers and those touched by cancer. The result has been an experience which is both inspiring and gratifying. The PMC has become an important part of my life, and I plan to continue to ride and support this wonderful event, and its cause, for many years to come.
