Why I PMC - Megan Cairns

Why I PMC guest blog by Megan Cairns, 9-year volunteer

I am volunteering in honor of my mom Julie Cairns (brain cancer), my Uncle John Haley II (skin cancer), and my Aunt Missy (breast cancer). I am also volunteering in memory of my Aunt Katie Canning (breast cancer), Papa Joe Cairns II (liver cancer), my Nana Anne Haley (kidney cancer), my Grampy John Haley (lung cancer), and my dad's best friend Dave Salo (brain cancer).

When I was four years old, my mom was diagnosed with a rare form of an incurable stage three brain cancer, Anaplastic Astrocytoma. When I was seven years old, my dad, Peter Cairns, started riding in the PMC for Team Haley-Cairns Brain Tumor Research Fund. When I was a child, I didn't know what it meant for my mom to be sick. Still, the PMC was just a way for my sister and me to look at the good people do for people like my mom. So the PMC has become a big part of my family's life every summer. We stand at the same corner by the entrance to Mass Maritime Academy that we have for 16 years and wait for my dad to come down the hill with posters.
My sister, mom, aunt, uncle, and cousins have been standing there for so long that we look forward to it all summer long.

When I was 12 years old, I understood what the PMC was doing by raising money and how all the money goes to my mom's doctor. I wanted to help raise money, so my friends in my neighborhood started our PMC bake sale, which we did for four years, and each year we made about $400. Then, when I was 17, I wanted to do something more with my sister. So I started volunteering, which we have been doing for seven years now, and we love it. I'm happy that the PMC has become part of my life.

It is nice to know that when my sister and I volunteer this summer, people around us will be there for the same reasons.
The month of May is brain cancer awareness month. This is a significant month for my family. When I was a freshman in high school in 2015, I started Go Gray In May, and I wore gray every day in May for brain cancer awareness for my mom. I ask everyone to wear gray with me to show support for my mom and everyone with brain cancer on her birthday, May 15th. I hope everyone can show their support for my mom.