Mark Blumenthal's Ride
Why I Ride ...
Thirteen years ago, I asked Frank Burstin for his blessing before proposing to Helen on her favorite beach on Cape Cod. As a teenager, Frank survived Auschwitz and four years of concentration camp slave labor. In his sixties, he survived a quadruple bypass. In his early eighties, he was remarkably fit and healthy, but in just three short months in 2008, cancer took his life. It robbed us all of the proudest grand-Poppa you’ve ever seen (click the "photos" link on the left to see for yourself).
In Frank’s memory, for the third year in a row, I will ride 192 miles across Massachusetts and Cape Cod on August 3 and 4, joining more than 5,500 other cyclists in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC), a bike-a-thon that raises money for cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston. This incredible event raised $37 million last year, and 100 percent of rider-raised revenue went directly to support DCFI’s Jimmy Fund and its tireless commitment to finding a cure.
U.S. News and World Report ranked the DFCI as the fifth best cancer hospital in the nation. Funds raised by the PMC support the efforts of more than 3,000 faculty and staff members. Those donations have resulted in:
- Increased survival rates of pediatric cancers.
- Decreased incidence rates for colorectal cancers and lung & bronchus cancers.
- More financial assistance to patients and their families in need.
- Greater funding of investigator-led clinical trials.
To take part in this event, I need to raise a minimum of $4,300 (though I’m aiming for more), and I need your help to reach my goal.
“Live for today,” Poppa Frank wrote, “because yesterday will never return, and who knows what tomorrow will be.” Please take a few minutes, right now, to help make tomorrow a better day for all those battling cancer.
Total Raised
$175
Goal
$8,000
Progress
Last year, 100% of rider-raised revenue went directly to the Jimmy Fund.
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Links
TwitterMark's Twitter Feed
HuffPost
Mark's Bio & Recent Articles on Huffington Post
Efraim
An Appreciation of Frank Burstin
This Is Personal
A trip to the Holocaust Museum I'll never forget
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
My Paceline Supporters
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Aliza Geretz | Way to go, Mark! | |
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Katherine Carter | ||
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Alan Wolf |
My Rides
| 2013 | $175 | Sturbridge to Family Finish at Ptown (2-Day) |
| 2012 | $6,513 | Sturbridge to Family Finish at Ptown (2-Day) |
| 2011 | $8,195 | Sturbridge to Family Finish at Ptown (2-Day) |
