Eight years ago, Brent McCreesh, then 2, was fighting stage IV neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of childhood cancer, at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund Clinic.
Consequently, Brent endured hundreds of blood transfusions, seven rounds of chemotherapy, 13 surgeries, three weeks of radiation, two stem cell transplants and 15 months of isolation. His life was an eight-by-ten foot hospital room.
In 2007, Brent’s parents, Dana and Michael, started TeamBrent, a group of 50 PMC cyclists who ride and raise money in honor of Brent and many other friends and family members affected by cancer. To date, the team has raised more than $3.1 million for cancer research. This year, the team hopes to raise a minimum of $300,000 for the PMC.
Today, Brent is your typical fourth grader who surrounds himself with friends and family and enjoys an active lifestyle. The ten-year-old sports enthusiast juggles playing travel soccer, tennis, baseball and hockey, along with getting good grades and mastering the game of chess.
This Aug. 3 and 4, the McCreesh family will be in full force along the PMC route. Michael will take on the 190-mile ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown, with Dana, Brent, now cancer free, and his siblings cheering for him from the sidelines.
