Last July I finished up a year and a half of chemotherapy to treat my aggressive breast cancer.  Four weeks later I rode in my first Pan  Mass Challenge. To say it was a surreal and incredible experience would be a serious understatement.  That I could physically take on this challenge was gift enough but coupled with the knowledge that for every dollar I raised and for every mile I rode, others like me were getting treatment for a disease that only 10 years ago was an immediate death sentence, was surely overwhelming to me.

I run many races and do lots of organized triathlons--nothing compares to the organization that goes into this event.  The volunteers that showed up in vast numbers was seriously humbling.  Everyone involved --every rider, volunteer, and staff member was there for one sole purpose  --to find a cure for the disease that has effected every single person on this planet in one way or another.  You who are reading this have either had cancer or are close to someone who has died or is battling it right now.

After the incredible experience Susan and I had last year, we have decide to do this again.  This year we will ride further and are committed to raise more money.  The training was daunting --but I would rather push my body to it's limits knowing that I have strength still left in me.  I do not want my cancer to re-surface.  One hundred percent of he money raised by us for  the Pan Mass goes directly to funding out-of-the box treatments and research that will hopefully ensure my cancer stays away and that possibly will guarantee that others will not have to get it at all.

 

The drug I was on, Herceptin is relatively new and extremely expensive. Without the dollars raised by Pan Mass and other events, new drugs like Herceptin would not be funded for studies. I see improvements in cancer treatment every day but we need so much more. Dana-Farber is an amazing place to be and those who work there are true angels. Please sponsor me and my biking partner Susan Coccoluto as we ride in our second Pan Mass Challenge for myself as well as my Mom who died last year of Colon Cancer and my Dad who died of complications due to Esophageal cancer and my Brother-in-Law Bob who was struck down far too young from Kidney cancer as well as the countless others in all our lives who battle this disease every day. 

Team "Kicked By an Angel" Thanks you!