***I’m retaining previous entries from past years, for who knows how long (until PMC limits how much I can type - haha)***

6/29/24

My PMC Year 7 - Future Breast cancer survivor

2024 has become a year of obstacles. I will no longer be just riding the PMC in honor of my dad, but also a Living Proof rider (next year ??)

My dad is on his 10th year since Stage 4 esophageal diagnosis and living a phenomenal life of retirement, including the beloved game of golf ?? He worked incredibly hard over the winter to become strong enough to join my mom, his wife of 50+ years on that golf course...and he did it! Dana-Farber Cancer Institute gave my parents their golden years TOGETHER.

My ride this year is honestly, to be determined. I am unable to ride my usual, very long, route from Sturbridge to Provincetown....because in April, I was diagnosed with the big C-word, of the breast. The initial diagnosis of stage 1, grade 1, was disappointingly wrong - after my lumpectomy at the end of May, removing 6.5cm of tissue, with (still) cancerous margins, and lymphnodes that also were cancerous - I am now stage 3, grade 3. WTF!!!!

Additional surgery, chemo, radiation, & hormone treatments are in my near & far futures.

PET scan in June, a thankful result of a tumor over 3x larger than initial imaging in april, showed no evidence elsewhere in the body (yay!) and I now have the honor of seeking input from Dana-Farber, and 1st appointment on 7/3.

This will not deter me from riding - my ride will be exactly that MY RIDE, with the tagline Future Breast cancer survivor.

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7/15/23

Year 6 for me committing to riding and fundraising for the PMC and 9-years since dad’s terminal cancer diagnosis. WOW!

Dad is doing amazing, as is mom! Dad has been successfully off treatment for over a year now!

Last year's PMC ride (2022) was one of the hardest rides yet. The heat index was over 100 for both day 1 & day 2. It was HOT ?? ?? I was thankful to just finish...and for the Yasso frozen yogurt bars at each water stop (they are a sponsor of the ride).

I am excited for this year! Let's do this ??‍??

7/27/22

This year will be Year 5 of riding the PMC. I started this ride/journey because of my dad and truthfully what Dana Farber has given our family.

As the years have gone by, those diagnosed - some lost - with cancer continues to grow. It's staggering really. Its heart breaking to hear each diagnosis, knowing the rough road ahead with scans, treatments, and appointments galore. So many friends, friends-parents and spouses/siblings. Not all as lucky as my dad.

I am very much looking forward to this years ride, which will be normal.

7/3/21

I am so excited to be able to ride in the PMC this year! The route remains the same, Saturday: Sturbridge to Bourne and Sunday: Bourne to Provincetown, but the event itself will be slightly different.

I am so grateful to be able to participate and raise funds for Dana Farber!

7/30/20

I don't particularly enjoy roller-coaster rides and nothing can really describe the ups and downs we've experienced this year, other than a roller-coaster ride that won't end.

January 30th Team MG presented our check, $343,570 5-yr total raised, to Dr. Bass and Dr. Enzinger, Director of the Center for Esophageal and Gastric Cancer and my dad's doctor! This (2nd) annual trip is one I have come enjoy, as we receive an update on the Center's research and progress in the fight against Esophageal & Gastric Cancer. This Engineer, admittedly is way out of my league in this room, surrounded by these industry-leading minds.

My riding season began early this year, with a 70 degree day on March 9th, I was rarin to go with training for the PMC! This enthusiasm was quickly squashed just two-weeks later when the US, and New York, came to a grinding halt. My rides and training continued, but it became readily apparent, the PMC we know and love, was not going to happen.

We have been fortunate to remain healthy, happy and employed. My dad continues to receive life-saving treatments every 3-weeks from Dana-Farber, while my mom sets up her lawn-chair waiting in the bowels of the parking garage, as visitors are not allowed to accompany patients - even pediatric patients are limited to one-guardian!

On Saturday, Aug 1st, I will do my PMC Reimagined ride with a few Team MG members. We will traverse the great state of Massachusetts, creating our own pan-mass, from North (Vermont) to South (CT) riding a metric-century (100k or 62mi) - slightly more palatable than the 190mi West to East version ;-)

My PMC ride this year will be unlike past years, but it is no less important or needed. The funds we raise for Dana-Farber save lives. Period.

The 2019 PMC ride raised $63,000,000 in funds for Dana Farber (100% of this money goes to DFCI) - I choke up when I think about this astounding number.

I'd like to thank all of you have have donated to this cause and if you are able to do-so again this year, it will undoubtedly be needed. 2020 has been a challenging year, but cancer doesn't stop, so neither will we!

7/1/19

I have been going back and forth with what to write here.

After finishing the ride last summer, there was no doubt in my mind I was going to sign up again this year. It was already in my calendar.

January arrived and so did the opportunity to register for the 2019 PMC. This time, I’m doing the long ride, I’m starting at Sturbridge, which means Day one will be 110 miles on.my.bike.seat. Ouch. Day two will be 75mi or so (same as last year).

February/March. Team MG, my PMC team, presented our “big check” on March 7th to Dana Farber for over $110k. I had the opportunity to see DFCI for the 1st time, the PMC Bridge, the pediatric unit, meet my dad’s doctors and see the laboratory – it was a truly incredible place. The millions this ride raises every year is simply incredible. In a strange turn of events, my dad was scheduled for a (what I thought to be) routine follow-up appointment on the same day as our big check presentation, so he rescheduled his appointment for the following week.

In just a few weeks’ time, abdominal pain, followed by scans uncovering new growths/tumors of significant size, and biopsies confirmed that my dad’s cancer had returned. He was swiftly scheduled for immunotherapy treatment, with the good-news being, same markers/cancer as before – where treatment had been successful.

So my reason for signing up for this ride has, and in a way has not, changed since January. Pay it forward was the fantastic saying my sister came up with last year and absolutely still is still a reason that I ride. But now that my dad’s cancer has returned and he’s back to making 200-mi trips to DF every 3-weeks to sit in an infusion chair…it makes that 110mi on my bike seat seem quite a bit less significant.

What is NOT insignificant, is each donation – every dollar raised – that directly impacts cancer patients and the incredible research & treatments Dana Farber administers. Thank you for all your support in helping me surpass my minimum fundraising requirement of $4,900 last year (and $5,000 this year).

2019 PMC - HERE I COME!!!!

7/25/18 - I am so excited to have joined Team MG, a team who's fundraising, and even some members, are directly associated with my Dad's life-saving treatment from Dana-Farber...my sister, Noor Denise Tanritanir, recently posted on Facebook about Paying it Forward (darn-it, why didn't I think of that slogan, she always was the smart one...which is why my butt is doing this ride, I suppose). I, without a doubt, know that funds Team MG raised for Espophogeal and Gastric Cancer changed our family's future, so it includes my dad for much longer than what would have been.

Paying it forwrd is EXACTLY what we are doing. Just 10 more days until go-time and I am so incredibly grateful for the donations from each an every one of you.

6/27/18 - my inspriation and story of the past 4-years (more recent updates below)

It was tax-season in 2014, 4 years ago, my dad was self-employed as a CPA and as usual, working long days, nights and weekends, knowing that the inevitable April 15th deadline would be here before he could see his wife of 43 years again. My sister and I, used to this black hole of tax season, had 3 of our 4 children born between 2/26 – 3/17, smack dab in the middle of dad’s busiest time of the year. So as tradition had it, we scheduled a visit to NH to visit Nana and Papa with the 4 grandkids and celebrate their birthdays.

Dad mentioned he had hip pain, but too busy to go see a doctor. He mentioned the pain was getting really bad (stairs were very hard) but he figured it might be arthritis – sucks to get old. A post tax-season doctor visit confirmed it was not arthritis, but a tumor/growth. Biopsy came back with horrendous news, it was cancerous and if cancer wasn’t bad enough, it was metastatic cancer, meaning his primary cancer was elsewhere in his body. This news came the first week of May, it would take over a month, heavy sedation, surgery and testing, before my dad was officially diagnosed with Stage 4 Esophageal Cancer.

The months that followed my dad’s diagnosis were a whirlwind and surreal. Visits with his youngest grandchildren were limited due to radiation he received. Then chemotherapy, a cocktail that I failed to ever fully comprehend, began; his sarcastic demeanor faded – we saw less and less of him during our visits, as he rested and kept to himself. My sister and I became each other’s crutch, while focusing our support on Mom, who was deep in the trenches of the hell that cancer threw them into.

During the blur of chemotherapy treatments in Summer of 2015, I do recall vividly that it wasn’t working. Primary treatments and care were managed by his local doctor/hospital in Keene, with occasional consults at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). We knew, that with his initial diagnosis occurring over a year ago, we were on borrowed time.

DFCI had a new trial treatment coming out in the Fall 2015 – Immunotherapy – with literally no other options and nothing to lose, the trial program began in December 2015 – every 3 weeks, he and my mom drove the 200-mile Round trip to DFCI to receive treatment.

The treatments at DFCI, instilled hope in all of us.

I learned about the Pan Mass Challenge (PMC) from my Syracuse-neighbor, Deb – who is a PMC “veteran”. She was my first bike-buddy, showing me the ropes, when I decided to give cycling a try. PMC is a bike-ride fundraiser, with various routes, to raise funds for DFCI and Deb’s passion for PMC was infectious – I wanted to join her so badly in 2016, when she last rode, but was scared – not only of the incredible physical challenges associated with the ride from Boston to Cape Cod (163 miles in 2 days is NUTS, so I thought), but the fundraising minimum: $4,900. W.O.W. And I am a self-professed stinker at raising money.

In December 2017, my dad’s two-year commitment to DFCI’s trial program was complete – testing confirmed, his body is cancer-free. When PMC’s registration opened the next month, with absolutely zero hesitation, I committed my butt to ride my bike 163 miles from Boston to Provincetown to commemorate and recognize my dad’s truly inspirational journey.

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN

7/12/18 - mother nature has not been kind with this heat! I have reached 100+ miles a week (8-10 hours), with mileage up to 65-70mi.

Thank you everyone for your generosity - your messages are so fun to read!!!!