This year marks 8 years since I had my life-saving double mastectomy and chemotherapy. I have wanted to do the Pan-Mass Challenge for a while and this year I have committed to ride from Bourne to Provincetown to celebrate my survival and to honor those who have gone too soon.

The Pan-Mass Challenge is a bike-a-thon that raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country. With every dollar raised, it brings us Closer by the Mile to a cure for cancer.

If you don’t know my story, I was diagnosed with triple positive breast cancer at the age of 35 after I found a lump in my breast on Thanksgiving night 2016. I had no family history and no genetic mutations to explain why I got this cancer. It was devastating.

But this ride is not about me. Yes, what I went through was awful, but I am doing well now and have a high percentage of survival with no recurrence. I am doing this ride for all the women I have met along the way—some of whom have become my best friends and some who are no longer with us. This ride is for the women who are metastatic and will be in treatment for the rest of their lives because stage IV breast cancer has no cure. This ride is for the women who I have met through support groups and organizations working to raise money to support families affected by cancer or to go towards cancer research.

This ride is for Melissa, one of my best friends who found out last year that her cancer had metastasized to her liver. She is one of the strongest women I know, and I have watched this disease break her. I ride for Melissa so that we can find a cure for metastatic breast cancer. So she can continue to watch her two boys, Luke and Jacob, grow up and be there for all their life milestones. I ride for her husband Eric, who has been such an incredible support through this all.

100% of every dollar I raise goes directly to Dana-Farber, and specifically to stage IV breast cancer research! This year, PMC fundraising for cancer research is even more important as federal funding for biomedical research remains in question.

We all know someone who has been affected by cancer. Please consider donating to help me reach my fundraising goal. Thank you!

With Gratitude,

Valerie