These days it doesn't matter if you're 50 or 15, chances are you know someone who's had cancer.
Instead of sitting around and feeling helpless, however, some young people on the North Shore have decided to take matters into their own hands by riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge this weekend to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
"I decided to ride because I've known a lot of people affected by cancer," said Andrew Brown, 17, of Peabody. "My grandmother died of cancer, and one of my friends had leukemia for a while, and also I thought it would be a good physical challenge, too."
An annual bike-a-thon that began in 1980, the Pan-Mass Challenge is definitely a physical and emotional challenge. While there are several routes, the original ride takes two days, as cyclists travel 190 miles from Sturbridge to Provincetown.
Andrew will be a junior this year at St. John's Prep, and this weekend will mark his third PMC ride. He'll ride alongside his older brother Alex, 18, who will be a freshman at Lehigh University this fall, as well as his father, Tom. It will be Alex's second PMC and Tom's 11th.
Alex said he had helped his brother and father raise money in the past, but when their close friend was diagnosed with leukemia and began treatment at Dana-Farber last year, he wanted to do a little more.
"I decided to step it up and ride myself," he said. "That's what pushed me into the ride."
Alex and his father will ride the two-day, 163-mile route from Wellesley to Provincetown, and Andrew will ride the one-day, 84-mile route from Wellesley to Bourne. Although they have only done some training, they are all feeling more excited than nervous.
"The ride's the easy part, it's the fundraising that's the hardest part, especially with the economy," Alex said. "We're probably only about a third of the way there."
The PMC has raised more than $270 million since it began 20 years ago, making the PMC the single largest contributor to Dana-Farber. Andrew and Alex need to raise $3,000 and $4,200, respectively — the minimum fundraising commitments for their rides. Add another $4,200 for their father, and that's a total of nearly $12,000 for the Brown family to raise.
The fundraising process really brings the Brown family together. They send out mailings to family and friends, host benefits throughout the summer, and raffle off donated Red Sox tickets. The boys also organized a dress-down day at St. John's Prep in the spring, where students made a donation to the boys' ride to wear casual clothes.
"The whole family has to be involved big time," Tom said. "My wife does a tremendous job fundraising. Once June kicks in, we get into fundraising mode."
The PMC has also become a family affair for the Doktors of Ipswich, whose daughter Jessie lost her battle with leukemia three years ago at age 9. Jessie's older sister Sarah, 16, will be riding for the second time, making her one of the youngest riders on the North Shore.
Sarah will be a junior this year at Ipswich High School, and she will ride 47 miles with her father, Chris, in the one-day teen loop that starts and ends in Wellesley. This year will be Chris' fifth ride. Sarah's mom, Gail, has also been involved with the PMC, and she has volunteered in the past serving lunch to cancer patients the day of the ride.
While Sarah admitted she's not looking forward to the sore aftermath of the ride, there was no question in her mind that she wanted to do it again this year.
"It's a family thing," she said.
Chris said the PMC has always been a positive experience for him and his family and a great way to give back to the foundation that helped Jessie for years.
"The first three years I did it were just amazing, you know, with the outreach, the support," he said. "I guess it's for us, now especially, a positive way of celebrating at least Dana-Farber and what they were able to give us for the six years that Jessie was being treated."
Other local teens riding in the PMC are: Dan Dechristoforo, 16, of Danvers; Andrew Evans, 16, of Wenham; Nathaniel Herring, 15, of Swampscott; Brendan McCarthy, 16, of Danvers; and Caroline Trustey, 15, of Wenham.
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