By Steve Davis, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™
My Hero:
For the past 14 summers, I have participated in the Pan Mass Challenge. When I first rode the PMC in 1988, my mom had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Today, mom continues to cheer the Davis family paceline, having courageously beaten cancer three times. She is my hero!
Everyday Heroes:
When I first rode the PMC, one of my lasting memories was riding up a long, steep hill where someone had written on the pavement in chalk the words, "Everyday Heroes!". The crowds who cheered and willed us up that hill thought the cyclists were the everyday heros, but they were wrong. The true everyday heros were all those who fight this dreadful disease and those who contribute funds toward beating it. Last year 230,000 PMC contributors donated $33 million for cancer research and treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. And since 1980, the PMC has contributed an amazing $303 million which finances research in its earliest stages. Known as “seed money”, PMC funds enable clinicians and scientists to pursue innovative research that has the potential to achieve the results that will warrant National Institutes of Health (NIH), or other private and government grants. In so many cases, this early support has fostered the development of some of the most important advances made in cancer research over the last two decades.
A Young Hero:
As I mentioned, I ride each year to honor my mom, a three-time survivor. This year, I will also be riding for Hannah Hughes, a young 7-year-old “Jimmy Fund Pedal Partner”. Hannah has a rare cancer but is doing well after recently undergoing a bone marrow transplant from her sister. Several of my friends and I plan to ride from her home in Ballston Spa, New York to the official start of the PMC in Sturbridge – a 180 mile journey we hope to cover over two additional days of riding. All told, we hope to ride almost 400 miles over four days. We’ll ride from Ballston Spa to West Stockbridge; West Stockbridge to Sturbridge; Sturbridge to Bourne; and Bourne to Provincetown.
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