I'm a proud participant in the Pan-Mass Challenge - a bike-a-thon that raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country - to bring us Closer by the Mile to a cure for cancer.

Since its founding in 1980, PMC riders like me have raised more than $1 billion for lifesaving cancer research, treatment and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the country's top cancer care hospitals. My PMC is making a difference in the lives of patients at Dana-Farber and around the world. The funds I raise support the innovative work of doctors, nurses, and scientists in their search for cures for cancers and related diseases.

100 percent of every dollar I raise goes directly to Dana-Farber, meaning that your donation has a real impact! Please donate to my PMC fundraising and help me reach my fundraising goal.

I am riding in my first Pan Mass Challenge in memory of my wife DEBORAH SWANSON BROOKS, who lost her battle with cancer late last year. I will be riding with a very heavy heart but praying and hoping that my support of further cancer research and care may help others avoid the horrors of cancer. One of my nieces is a survivor of cancer thanks to the care she received from DFCI.

I have been a long time cyclist having first arrived in Massachusetts via bicycle when I rode across the country from Oregon in 1976. I am also riding with cancer survivors thanks to the cancer care research and care that this ride helps support in a big.

If you are able to assist this important cause, I will be immensely grateful to you as I ride in memory of wife and many others no longer with us. Any amount can be helpful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.