I just came across this amazing series about Matthew Starring in the Barrington Times.
We met Matthew last year.
Matthew was a 22-year-old college student in Boston and planning to ride his first PMC. He participated in PMC Night at Fenway and the East Bay RI paper chronicled his trip to Fenway here.
Not long after riding around Fenway, Matthew's cancer relapsed and he was in the hospital during PMC weekend. But, Matthew was closely tied to the TV and the ride that weekend – his oncology nurse from Rhode Island filled Matthew's spot in the PMC to ride in his honor. Matthew's dad Mark Starring also rode the PMC last year in honor of his son.
Matthew is facing more challenges with cancer, but the Pan-Mass Challenge has been on his mind, according to the Barrington Times article:
Prior to this most recent relapse, Matthew and his father, Mark Starring, registered to ride in mid-January for the Pan-Mass Challenge which takes place on August 1-2, 2009. Despite the setback, he is still determined to continue with training and fund raising. The Pan-Mass Challenge is a 190-mile, two day bike ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown, Mass. benefiting the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Every 2-day rider must raise $4200 to qualify for the ride.
One of Mr. Starring and Matthew's first orders of business, when settling into his room on the oncology floor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, was to get an exercise bike in his room. He said he was logging a couple miles every day. He also made a point of going up and down 7 flights of stairs every day to keep his muscles active.
We wish Matthew the best of luck in his treatment and we look forward to seeing him at the PMC this August.
