This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Melrose Cancer Survior Rides at Fenway Park for PMC Day

Melrose resident Joanne King was one of 32 riders to participate in PMC Day at Fenway Park yesterday, by cycling around the warning track prior to the Red Sox interleague game against Milwaukee.

Melrose resident Joanne King was honored along with 31 other cancer survivors and Pan-Massachusetts Challenge cyclists as part of PMC Day at Fenway Park prior to Saturday night’s interleague showdown between the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers. King and the other cyclists rode around the warning track in a pre-game ceremony to honor their commitment to raising money for cancer care and research.

“It’s really exciting. It really is,” said King, who has called Melrose home for the past 16 years and currently resides on Melbourne Avenue. “It’s a long journey from finding out you have breast cancer to riding out in Fenway Park. It’s a little overwhelming. It’s really wonderful and all for a good cause.”

King’s life has been tragically touched by breast cancer on more than one occasion, making her participation in the PMC all the more poignant.

Find out what's happening in Melrosewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Unfortunately my mother had breast cancer, both my aunts had breast cancer and they all passed away from it,” she said. “Now my sister has breast cancer.”

She received her own cancer diagnosis six years ago.

Find out what's happening in Melrosewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“My youngest was only four years old at the time,” King said. “It was really hard to tell my kids. Going through the treatment was really hard, and I couldn’t work.”

After undergoing a year of treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, King was given a clean bill of health, and immediately began looking for ways to give back.

“I went through a year of treatment,” she said. “As soon as I was finished, I wanted to do something to give back, so my husband Paul and I have been doing (the PMC) ever since.”

This year will be the fifth for the Kings at the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge. The PMC ride takes place on August 6 and 7, and features 5,000 cyclists. King will ride up to 190 miles across the state to raise money for the Jimmy Fund. Now in its 32nd year, the PMC was founded by Billy Starr, and started off as a small group of 35 individuals, but has grown into the biggest single fundraiser in the United States in terms of dollars raised.

“It keeps me healthy,” King said of the PMC ride. “I train all year, I go to spin classes—at on Tremont Street in Melrose. I think it’s given me a new level of health. I feel healthier than ever. I just feel really good.”

The PMC selects the riders who ride the track at Fenway via lottery, and King had the good fortune to be selected for the second time this year. While the riders travel the warning track in front of a cheering crowd, according to King, matters on the field are considerably more subdued in nature.

“Most people are in this for a reason,” she said. “Either they themselves, family members, friends or whatever, so it’s kind of somber, it’s kind of bittersweet. But it’s really nice ... what I notice is the silence, because it’s such a somber occasion ... you can just hear the bikes.”

After the riders reached their destination in front of the home dugout, the PMC logo was unveiled on the Green Monster moments before the singing of the national anthem by cancer survivor Denise DeSimone.

A match made in heaven

It’s no secret that the Boston Red Sox organization has been knocking it out of the park for years when it comes to charity work. As such, being the PMC’s presenting sponsor for the past nine seasons is a perfect fit, as it’s not an exaggeration to call the PMC the Boston Red Sox of athletic fundraisers.

“The Red Sox are really big supporters of this,” said King. “One hundred percent of every dollar raised (by the PMC) goes towards cancer research for the Jimmy Fund, so it’s a great cause, and since it’s volunteer based, there is very little overhead.”

A model of fundraising efficiency, the PMC aims to raise $34 million this year for adult and pediatric cancer care and research at Dana-Farber. Over the past 31 years, the organization has raised a staggering $303 million.

As of this writing the Red Sox sit atop the AL East standings—despite Saturday night’s 4-2 loss. The PMC leads the league in athletic fundraising, as it raises and contributes more than twice the sum of any other athletic fundraiser in the country.

Founded in 1980, the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge has become such a respected fundraising event that people travel from all over the world to ride for cancer care and research. There are 11 routes that riders can pick from, ranging from 25 to 190 miles in length. Of the PMC riders, more than 300 are cancer survivors or current patients.

Each cyclist makes a commitment to raise between $500 and $4,200 in order to join the PMC team, but ninety percent of all riders exceed the minimum contribution, and one-third raise more than double the requisite sum.

The PMC is presented by the Red Sox Foundation and the New Balance Foundation, and an additional 200 companies provide support through charitable donations of goods, services and money.

So effective is the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge as an athletic fundraiser, that it accounts for 60 percent of the Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue and is Dana-Farber’s largest donor.

“The PMC has made what we do at Dana-Farber possible,” said Edward J. Benz Jr., MD, president of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in a press release issued by the PMC. “When they write the history of how cancer was conquered, the PMC will be in chapter one.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?