As just about all of you know, in August I’ll join 4800 other riders and bike 200 miles in two days during my seventh Pan-Mass Challenge, which supports cancer research, treatment, and prevention through the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund.
I’m asking each of you to consider sponsoring my ride this year.
The PMC is the largest athletic fundraiser in the nation, having given $26 million to the Jimmy Fund last year. In an industry where most charity events aspire to raise $1 million, last year the PMC’s donation to the Jimmy Fund grew by $3 million. To give you an idea what that means, the PMC represents fifty percent of the Jimmy Fund’s annual income. And the PMC donates an unsurpassed 99 percent of the money raised by riders, which is unmatched by any other fundraisers.
In my seven years, I’ve personally raised $26,000, and hope to raise over $6,300 this year. Thanks to my sponsors, last year I raised a record $6,260 for the Jimmy Fund. That not only beat the minimum fundraising level of $3,300; it not only smashed my previous record of $3,865; but it also qualified me for the $6,000+ “Heavy Hitter” status, an achievement that I didn’t believe I could ever make. I was incredibly proud to see my name listed—for the first time—in the PMC’s 2006 Yearbook. My thanks go to those of you who have made that achievement possible.
Last year I rode in honor of my good friend Nicole, who was going through five months of chemotherapy to treat ovarian cancer, after the painful loss of both ovaries. I’m happy to report she’s still cancer-free, and delighted to have her hair and eyebrows back. In the past year she has traveled to India three times for work, and has more travel planned this summer and fall. I saw her recently, and was delighted to hear that she’d just celebrated the one-year anniversary of the end of her chemo treatments.
However, cancer can reappear at any time, as I learned last fall. On November 5th I was just getting ready to leave for the PMC’s 2006 check presentation ceremony when I got a message from my friend Christine: two months after they celebrated the one year anniversary of the end of her fiance’s chemo treatment, his cancer had recurred.
That—and everything else they have been through—is why I’m riding in his honor this year.
Ken and Christine had known each other via the Internet for three years in 2005, when he was first diagnosed with advanced stage Hodgkins lymphoma. He and Christine met in person and became romantically involved over the summer of 2005, while he was undergoing six months of chemotherapy. He successfully wooed her, and proposed that December. Things looked good, and they moved into an apartment together in Virginia last July, where they celebrated the anniversary of the end of his treatment.
But a late October followup PET scan showed that Ken’s cancer had unexpectedly come right back to Stage IV. He immediately began another six-month regimen of chemotherapy, which has been extremely difficult on both of them. His treatment ended just a few weeks ago, and he should be back to his former strength again soon. And hopefully he and Christine will be able to celebrate another end of his treatment anniversary when they are married in Chicago next May.
Ken and Nicole’s stories show both how much we have learned about cancer recently, and yet how much more we need to do to overcome this persistent disease. Both those lessons are also clearly depicted in a recently-published book called “The Cancer Treatment Revolution: How Smart Drugs and Other New Therapies are Renewing Our Hope and Changing the Face of Medicine”.
The book was written by Dr. David Nathan, former president of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the research hospital that is the beneficiary of the Pan-Mass Challenge. In his book, Dr. Nathan describes the amazing progress made against all forms of cancer during his fifty years in oncological research, and the equally amazing and heartening prospects for the future. It’s an amazing way to discover the work that has been done at the very facility that your PMC donations support. Read more about the book in my journal entry here: http://ornoth.livejournal.com/109013.html
In order to share some of the book’s perspective on cancer with my supporters, this year I will purchase and send a free copy of “The Cancer Treatment Revolution” to every person who makes a contribution of $200 or more (before employer match) in support of my ride this year. It’s my way of both offering my thanks and sharing the real progress that your donations have made and/or will make possible.
The battle against cancer has become one of the most important causes of our lifetimes. In March, DFCI announced “Mission Possible: the Dana-Farber Campaign to Conquer Cancer”, with an audacious $1 billion fundraising goal by 2010. Read about it and—the PMC’s role in it— here: http://www.pmc.org/ems_client/html/pdf/BillionCampaign.pdf
And on a more personal level, last November I came across a familiar name on the Internet: one of my best friends from grammar and high school, whom I’d lost contact with. After surviving testicular cancer, had also become a charity rider, raising money and doing activism for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Small world…
The focus on eradicating cancer is very heartening, but research and prevention are still hobbled by lack of funding. In April, Lance Armstrong wrote an article that appeared in Newsweek, protesting when Congress cut the National Cancer Institute’s funding for the first time in thirty years, which galvanized his “Unite” campaign. See the article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17888477/site/newsweek/
That’s why events like the PMC and individual donors like you are so very important. In many ways it’s your and my contributions that will make the real difference in the battle against cancer.
In August I will participate in my seventh PMC ride. and I hope you’ll help me raise more money in 2007 for cancer research, treatment, and prevention than I ever have before. Although the ride’s August 4-5, I can take donations until the end of September. And if your employer has a matching gift program, please make use of it, because that will double any contribution you make at no cost to you. And if you donate $200, I’ll send your book out right away.
Thank you again for allowing me to play an active part in what I believe is the most important cause of our time.
Here are the important links:
Make a contribution by credit card:
https://www.pmc.org/egifts/giftinfo.asp?eGiftID=OL0003
My cycling page, with writeups of my previous Pan-Mass rides: http://users.rcn.com/ornoth/bicycling/
My PMC profile page and this year’s fundraising total: http://www.pmc.org/mypmc/profiles.asp?Section=story&eGiftID=OL0003
The Pan-Mass Challenge: http://www.pmc.org/
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: http://www.dfci.harvard.edu/
The Jimmy Fund: http://www.jimmyfund.org/
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