On August 2 and 3, 2025, riders from all corners of the world will converge on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to participate in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC), a bike-a-thon that raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country. I am currently rehabbing from a hip injury but hope to join my Team Wilms Bros teammates to ride a combined 187 miles to raise vital funds for life-saving cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), a world leader in adult and pediatric cancer treatment and research. This is my sixteenth consecutive year of fundraising for Dana-Farber, a relationship that began with my participation in the 2010 Boston Marathon when, searching for a means to enrich my marathon experience, I found the Boston Athletic Association's charity program and, specifically, the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) team. That first experience as a charity athlete forever changed my life and immediately transformed my fitness pursuits into a philanthropic crusade against a disease that has significantly impacted my family and, most tragically, taken the lives of my brother, Tim, from brain cancer at the age of 47, my mother, Pat, from endometrial cancer at the age of 70, and my father-in-law, Marvin, from brain cancer at the age of 61.

My story isn't unique. There isn't a single one of us who has escaped cancer's reach. Even if we have been fortunate to avoid being personally afflicted by the disease, it has most certainly afflicted at least one family member or close friend/acquaintance. In the U.S. alone, the American Cancer Society (ACS), in its Cancer Facts & Figures 2024 publication, estimates there were over TWO MILLION new cancer cases and over 600 THOUSAND deaths in 2023. These figures are staggering and, while it's true medical advances have resulted in improved survival rates -- ACS reports an increase in the five-year relative survival rate from 49 percent for cancers diagnosed in 1975-1977 to 69 percent in 2013-2019 -- progress has been very gradual, leaving significant room for improvement. Further, many forms of cancer (e.g., brain, liver, lung, and pancreatic) continue to have very low survival rates.

PLEASE JOIN ME IN THIS FIGHT!

I'm a proud supporter of the PMC because it is leading the charge to beat cancer by supporting Dana-Farber's tireless commitment to finding cures, and I ask that you join me in this worthy endeavor by supporting my fundraising efforts. You may give with the assurance that 100 percent of every dollar raised will be directed toward innovative cancer research, specifically benefiting the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research, the same program my prior DFMC fundraising efforts have supported. Your gift will further enable discoveries/advances in cancer research that will positively impact many lives for generations to come.

To make a gift online via credit/debit card, please click the appropriate (red) button in the lefthand margin of this page. Alternatively, check donations may be made payable to Pan-Mass Challenge and mailed to me.

DON'T FORGET YOUR EMPLOYER'S MATCHING GIFT PROGRAM!

If your employer offers a matching gift program, please take the time to help your gift go even further by completing and submitting the required paperwork. The few extra minutes it takes to do this is a worthwhile investment via the increase impact of your gift. When submitting your request, please include (if possible) the designation Tony Brake; PMC 2025; TB0227.

THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

If any questions (or if you need my postal address to mail your check), please e-mail me!