Steven Branfman's Ride
Why I Ride ...
My families involvement with the Pan Mass Challenge goes back many years as donors and supporters. Ironically, we had never been able to participate as riders or volunteers because August was when we would take our family vacation which, for 14 years were cyclotouring trips! Ellen and I began taking short overnight trips with Jared and Adam in bike seats when they were 4 and 2 years old. After a couple of years they graduated to being able to ride on their own and the trips got longer and more challenging. Our last was an 1100 mile tour of Denmark and southern Sweden in 1999.
2004 marked our first Pan Mass as riders and volunteers, after our son and brother Jared was diagnosed with spinal/cranial tumors. Later that fall I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After surgery and treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute I am fully recovered. Jared's battle with cancer began in 2003 after his junior year at Alfred University/NYS College Of Ceramics. After fighting this terrible disease for almost 2 1/2 years, Jared passed away on September 27, 2005. He was 23 years old. Jared was an artist of extraordinary ability and passion. He was an athlete and league champion in wrestling, track, and soccer. He was a scholar of art history, hispanic culture and was fluent in Spanish. Jared endured the most rigorous treatments at the Jimmy Fund and Children's Hospital all the while maintaining his kindness, his positive outlook, and living his life to the fullest. The care and compassion that Jared received there and that we receive there to this day was, and remains, extraordinary.
In 2004 and 2005 Adam and I rode the Pan Mass while Ellen and Jared volunteered, Jared in a wheelchair. 2006 was going to be the year that we all rode together. Instead, Ellen, Adam, and I rode in Jared's honor and memory along with 15 other dear friends as Team Kermit. Later that year we established the Jared Branfman Sunflowers For Life Fund For Pediatric Brain And Spinal Cancer Research at the Jimmy Fund. All the money raised by Team Kermit goes through the PMC and into our fund. It supports research into the type of disease that Jared had and is helping to make the dream of "no more cancer" a reality. It is a fitting legacy to Jared's wish to help others.
2012 marks our 9th PMC and Team Kermit is growing every year. We ride determined to see that cancer becomes a thing of the past.
The photo of Jared is from 2005 at the Wareham water stop where Ellen and Jared volunteered. Ellen took the picture of Adam, Jared, and me.
Our warmest thank you and love to all of our friends and family that support us in our daily lives and in our efforts for the Pan Mass Challenge and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute/ Jimmy Fund. Please make a generous donation and please tell your friends about our efforts. Join us in our fight to rid the world of this terrible disease so that your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren never have to hear the word cancer again.
with love and best wishes to all,
Ellen, Steven, and Adam Branfman
2004 marked our first Pan Mass as riders and volunteers, after our son and brother Jared was diagnosed with spinal/cranial tumors. Later that fall I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After surgery and treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute I am fully recovered. Jared's battle with cancer began in 2003 after his junior year at Alfred University/NYS College Of Ceramics. After fighting this terrible disease for almost 2 1/2 years, Jared passed away on September 27, 2005. He was 23 years old. Jared was an artist of extraordinary ability and passion. He was an athlete and league champion in wrestling, track, and soccer. He was a scholar of art history, hispanic culture and was fluent in Spanish. Jared endured the most rigorous treatments at the Jimmy Fund and Children's Hospital all the while maintaining his kindness, his positive outlook, and living his life to the fullest. The care and compassion that Jared received there and that we receive there to this day was, and remains, extraordinary.
In 2004 and 2005 Adam and I rode the Pan Mass while Ellen and Jared volunteered, Jared in a wheelchair. 2006 was going to be the year that we all rode together. Instead, Ellen, Adam, and I rode in Jared's honor and memory along with 15 other dear friends as Team Kermit. Later that year we established the Jared Branfman Sunflowers For Life Fund For Pediatric Brain And Spinal Cancer Research at the Jimmy Fund. All the money raised by Team Kermit goes through the PMC and into our fund. It supports research into the type of disease that Jared had and is helping to make the dream of "no more cancer" a reality. It is a fitting legacy to Jared's wish to help others.
2012 marks our 9th PMC and Team Kermit is growing every year. We ride determined to see that cancer becomes a thing of the past.
The photo of Jared is from 2005 at the Wareham water stop where Ellen and Jared volunteered. Ellen took the picture of Adam, Jared, and me.
Our warmest thank you and love to all of our friends and family that support us in our daily lives and in our efforts for the Pan Mass Challenge and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute/ Jimmy Fund. Please make a generous donation and please tell your friends about our efforts. Join us in our fight to rid the world of this terrible disease so that your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren never have to hear the word cancer again.
with love and best wishes to all,
Ellen, Steven, and Adam Branfman
Steven's PMC Total
$8,947.74
Goal
$30,000
My Progress
My Online Supporters
| Paige Desisto | $50 | Good luck! Paige DeSisto and family | |
| David Yale | |||
| Adam Cohen | |||
| Jessica Price | Thank you! Have a great ride | ||
| Mark Rockoff | $100 | ||
| Paula Mariaj | |||
| Debra M Corrado | |||
| Dan Hawkins | $100 | Go Team Kermit! | |
| Stephen Dame | $69.74 | ||
| David & Karen Hendley | Best wishes for a safe ride! | ||
| Steven Gold | $100 | ||
| Eddy Hamilton | Thank you for all that you do. | ||
| Eiko Amano | |||
| Robert Gross | Lisa Feldman and Bob Gross | ||
| Lia Luus | Yeay Steve! | ||
| Nancy Cahan | |||
| Lois And Larry | We're rooting for you all the way! | ||
| Steve Richmond | $100 | steve - great job and continued success | |
| Jeanne Mason | $300 | We're thinking of all of you...... | |
| David Goldberg | |||
| Denise Montoya | |||
| Marshall Ottina | $100 | Go Team Kermit - Marshall, Shauna & Thomas Padraig | |
| Kathleen Ottina | $500 | Team Kermit - You are in our thoughts and prayers | |
| Janet Langer | $50 | Wishing you strength as you ride once again. | |
| Craig Marin | $250 | Good luck reaching this year's goal! | |
| Craig Marin | $250 | Good luck reaching this year's goal! | |
| Julie Mehegan | |||
| Tom Chiari | $25 | Giddyup Team Kermit! | |
| Linda Gelda | Go Team Kermit!! | ||
| Nina Pesner | $50 | For a most courageous family!! Nina | |
| David and Nancy Tegeler | $100 | ||
| Faye and Charlie Ruopp | $50 | We will be cheering you on in August! | |
| Maureen and Daniel Keleher | $20 | ||
| Karen Sobin-Jonash | $20 | Inspiring Be well and continue to do good work. | |
| Norma Atkinson | $100 | Remembering Jared and Jennifer | |
| Joanne Steinhart | $100 | ||
| Liz Gribin | $50 | Wishing you all the best. Liz | |
| Matthew Mcguirk | $35 | Good luck to you and all of the riders Branf! | |
| James Pickel | $25 | ||
| Jill Soloway | $100 | ||
| Patricia Rogers | $100 | Good luck love, pat and steve | |
| Lawrence Vincent | $100 | ||
| Gerald Leonard | |||
| Mary Kate Dillon | |||
| Joe Haney | Go Team Kermit. Remember Bill E. | ||
| Kevin Hays | I will be thinking of you while you are riding | ||
| Joe Fish | $100 | ||
| Rowland Mayor | Good luck Steven and the rest of the Kermit Crew. | ||
| Richard Kane | Good Luck Steven! Ride on! | ||
| Jack Troy | |||
| Inge Balch | |||
| Amber Aguirre | |||
| James Macvarish | Ride well, Team Kermit, ride well... |
My Rides
| 2012 | $8,947.74 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Inn (2-Day) |
| 2011 | $25,663.76 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Inn (2-Day) |
| 2010 | $21,069.02 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Inn (2-Day) |
| 2009 | $25,084 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Inn (2-Day) |
| 2008 | $20,567.01 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Inn (2-Day) |
| 2007 | $21,338.5 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Inn (2-Day) |
| 2006 | $26,670 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Inn (2-Day) |
| 2005 | $10,858.97 | Sturbridge to Provincetown Inn (2-Day) |
| 2004 | $10,272 | Wellesley to Bourne (1-Day, Sat) |
