Todd Yezefski

At 5:45 AM on the morning of Saturday, August 2, I joined a mass of thousands of cyclists at the start of the Pan-Mass Challenge in Sturbridge, MA. In just fifteen minutes, we would begin our 112 miles to Bourne, all riding for the singular focus of ridding the world of the terrible, vicious, and complex disease known as cancer. I rode as a member of Team Kermit, a group founded by Steven and Ellen Branfman, parents of one of my bike racing teammates, to remember their other son who passed away several years ago. I also had more personal reasons for riding, including the memory of my cycling coach and friend Alaric Gayfer.

And so all 38 members of Team Kermit began the ride at 6 AM with green Kermit stuffed animals affixed to the tops of our helmets. While we certainly stood out amongst the thousands of other riders, I quickly learned that there were no celebrities here, no one who deserved any more or less than everyone else. We were all on the same ground, riding for the same reason, and everyone had similar stories to the other members of Team Kermit and me. Not only was the PMC composed of the riders, but thousands of volunteers had given up their Saturday (and Sunday as well for the two-day ride to Provincetown) to make the ride happen. Without these people who provided food at the rest stops, drove support vehicles along the route, and performed many other necessary but hidden functions, there would be no ride or millions of dollars raised to support the Jimmy Fund. Perhaps most striking to me, however, was the number of people who came out and stood along the route, cheering every single rider on, from the fastest to the slowest. Holding signs to honor lost family members or signs claiming that they have been cancer free for five years, these were the people who really made my PMC. They aren’t a part of the ride, but they have a unique connection to everyone riding, and all were extremely grateful that we were doing what we could to provide a brighter future for everyone.

Participating in the PMC was a fantastic, yet humbling, experience for me. Cancer can be a devastating disease, but it is also something that can bring people together and push them to help make a change in this world. I hope to someday be a pediatric oncologist, but I hope even more that, through the efforts of the PMC and countless other groups, that job will someday no longer exist.
Please, join me in the fight against cancer and support the PMC and the Jimmy Fund:

http://www.pmc.org/mypmc/profiles.asp?Section=story&eGiftID=TY0009