HealthBlawg

David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog

    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS
    • Email
  • About
  • Archives
  • Podcast
  • Press
  • Awards/Reviews
  • HIPAA
  • HCSM

Pan Mass Challenge 2012 Enters the History Books

August 7, 2012

Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns. Last weekend, the 352nd Massachusetts municipality came together for a brief, shining moment, and then disappeared again, gone for another year. It was, of course, the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, the annual bicycle fundraiser for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute's Jimmy Fund. If it's the first weekend in August, that's where you'll find me. This year, there were 5500 riders and 3100 volunteers — not to mention untold numbers of friends, family members, neighbors and strangers — who formed this remarkable village on wheels.

Every year from 2004 through 2011, I've biked 200 miles in two days, from Sturbridge to Provincetown, to raise money for the cause, and each year I've experienced it in a different way — as a novice cyclist, I was just focused on finishing the ride; another year, I was focused on my own good fortune in being diagnosed and successfully treated for cancer in the heart of Boston's Longwood Medical Area, home of the Harvard teaching hospitals, ten years before I started riding the PMC; in yet another year, I remember reveling in the delight of doing nothing but bike for two days, with the luxury of having all my needs attended to by volunteers who serve up peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches, "Gatorade-a-tinis" and more, and being cheered at every turn by some of the hundreds, or thousands, of people lined up along the PMC's route. Every year, though, the bottom line is the singular focus that this village on wheels brings to the fight against cancer; the villagers greet each other: "Thanks for riding," "Thanks for coming out," "Thanks for volunteering."  In 2012, our little village is on track to raise $36 million for the Dana Farber Cancer Center.

This year I wasn't able to ride, due to a back injury. It's been a real loss for me, not just on the PMC weekend, but all season: cycling has become more than exercise for me: it's a meditative retreat, a therapeutic source of mental health achieved through pedaling and camaraderie. Nevertheless, I've done my part on the fundraising front, and I thank all of you who have contributed to support my ride — or, rather, virtual ride — this time around. (Every year, I give the PMC my credit card in January, and then it's up to me to raise, or pay, the minimum ….) For the first time, my 15-year-old son (known to my Twitter followers as Son No. 2) registered to ride; and I was disappointed that I couldn't ride with him on his first PMC.  I've enjoyed hearing his stories from the road over the past couple of days, though (he recognizes his need for more adjectives, since he just keeps saying everything about the PMC was incredible or awesome), and I've really enjoyed seeing the PMC through the eyes of someone who's just moved into the village. He rode one day this year, Wellesley to Bourne, 85 miles, with no training (15-year-olds can do anything for one day, I suppose); next year, we plan to ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown together.

The PMC had special meaning for my family this year. My mother-in-law, who lived with — and battled — melanoma for the past year, died in late July. She did her best to continue living her life, on her terms, for most of the past year — despite being dealt a bleak prognosis. She was fully engaged with friends and family, remained just about as active as ever, continued piano lessons and pursued her other interests — including offering emotional and other support to friends, family and her counseling clients — until just shortly before her death. In the face of this devastation, we are trying to regroup, and we are remembering the good times. And there were plenty of good times.

To read more about why we ride, to read vignettes from earlier rides, and to see photos and videos from the PMC in past years, please see my PMC profile and my son's PMC profile. Thanks again to all for the support we've gotten to date — and it's not too late to support the cause before the books close on PMC 2012.

Thanks, and see you on the road.

David Harlow
The Harlow Group LLC
Health Care Law and Consulting

Filed Under: Consumer-Directed Health, Off-topic, Participatory Medicine

you might also like:

  1. Another Pan Mass Challenge enters the history books

  2. Another Pan Mass Challenge Enters the History Books

  3. Lick Cancer. Sponsor my Ride in the Pan-Mass Challenge.

« Massachusetts Health Reform Bill Tackles Cost Control and More
HealthCamp Boston 2012: Brainstorming the Future of Healthcare »

Follow me on Twitter

David Harlow 💉😷 Follow 43,243 17,535

Mastodon @healthblawg@c.im #HealthCare #MedDevice #Compliance #Privacy @MyOmnipod #HIPAA #digitalhealth #HarlowOnHC #pinksocks Tweets are tweets No more no less

healthblawg
healthblawg avatar; David Harlow 💉😷 @healthblawg ·
2h 1641080431243042816

The latest Harlow On Health Care Daily #HarlowOnHC #digitalhealth #healthcare #innovation #privacy #hcldr Thx: @joyclee @ClimaxBetty @_timos_ #digitalhealth #healthtech

Image for twitter card

What satisfied EHR users do differently

healthcareitnews.com A new Arch Collaborative user's guide dives into what 3,000 highly satisfied electronic health reco...

paper.li

Reply on Twitter 1641080431243042816 Retweet on Twitter 1641080431243042816 0 Like on Twitter 1641080431243042816 0 Twitter 1641080431243042816
healthblawg avatar; David Harlow 💉😷 @healthblawg ·
7h 1641015055335432193

ICYMI> Paul Schrimpf, at Prophet Consulting, Driving Health Care Transformation — Harlow on Healthcare https://healthblawg.com/2022/12/paul-schrimpf-prophet-consulting.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost #digitalhealth #hcldr #hitsm

Image for the Tweet beginning: ICYMI>  Paul Schrimpf, at Twitter feed image.
Reply on Twitter 1641015055335432193 Retweet on Twitter 1641015055335432193 1 Like on Twitter 1641015055335432193 0 Twitter 1641015055335432193
healthblawg avatar; David Harlow 💉😷 @healthblawg ·
14h 1640909216356487173

ICYMI> Frank McGillin, CEO, The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic — Harlow on Healthcare #digitalhealth #hcldr #hitsm

Image for twitter card

Frank McGillin, CEO, The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic

Harlow on Healthcare: Conversations with Healthcare Innovation Leaders

healthblawg.com

Reply on Twitter 1640909216356487173 Retweet on Twitter 1640909216356487173 0 Like on Twitter 1640909216356487173 0 Twitter 1640909216356487173
Load More
Follow me on Mastodon

HIPAAtools

Hipaatools

The HIPAA Compliance Toolkit

The Walking Gallery

The Walking Gallery

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Categories
  • Archives
  • Podcast Interviews
  • HIPAAtools
  • HIPAA Compliance
  • Health Care Social Media
  • Speaking
  • In the Press
  • Blogroll

David Harlow

David Harlow

HealthcareNOW Radio

Connect with David

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Email
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Book Me: Speaking
  • About
  • The Harlow Group LLC
Copyright © 2006–2023
HealthBlawg is a publication of The Harlow Group LLC. See Copyright notice and disclaimer.
Fair use with attribution and a link is encouraged. Click for more on David Harlow.
[footer_backtotop text="Back to top" href="#"]