Our son Connor's headmaster went to the ER with a bloody nose in February and didn't leave the hospital for six weeks (Leukemia). My uncle passed away two months ago after an aggressive cancer returned. My sister-in-law has endured two surgeries in the past year while missing weeks with her two little girls to endure raditation treatments. You've got stories like this too.
Riding in the Pan Mass Challenge is our small way of fighting back. When the PMC started, kids had a 15% survival rate. Today, it's an 85% survival rate. Your donations for research make a difference!
Jeff and Karen Packman have used the Pan-Mass Challenge as a protest against their young daughter Hannah’s cancer for several years. Thankfully, Hannah is cancer free. However, the threat of its return is never far from their minds.
Just before the start of last year’s PMC, Karen got a call from Hannah’s camp – she was sick. Karen dropped her plans to ride the PMC and headed to camp. Most parents can relate to that fear for a child.
Luckily, it was a false alarm, Hannah would be fine (and Karen would make it down to Bourne to ride the second day), but that experience gave me a sense of what parents and families go through after cancer has struck – the shadow of cancer doesn’t leave.
When Jeff asked if I’d ride for Hannah’s team – Hannah’s Bandanas – it took me a nanosecond to say yes. So, we rode for Hannah's Bandanas this year.
First Day - Wellesley to Cape Cod (Bourne). 85 miles. Flying out of the start with the bright orange colors of Hannah’s Bandanas. Jeff, Karen, Andy, Alicia, Jon, Mike and Eric, Steve and Fred pushed nearly 22mph for the first 20 miles. The team stopped at the first stop and we kept pushing as a group of five (Eric, Steve, Fred and Uta Pippig) and rode to the finish in Bourne in just over 4 hours. Lesson learned: Boston Marathon champions can suffer -- Uta was strong and didn't fade at all during our hammerfest.
Highlight today: a little guy holding a sign saying, "I'm 11 years old because of you."
Day Two - Wellesley to Wellesley. 47 miles with our 13-year old son Connor. This was the longest ride of his life. He trained hard and it paid off -- he aced it! Highlight of today: riding through the hills of Walpole, a man sat at the end of his driveway under a poster he'd made in his wife's honor, thanking each of us as we rode buy. He said thousands of thank you's today. For all of you who supported our ride, one more huge THANK YOU.
Video highlights here: http://jonmcneill.phanfare.com/ (secret word = bicycle).
Hannah, Nikki, Steve, Uncle Jim -- we ride for you!
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