Back in 1991, my sister Debbie asked me to pick her up in Provincetown after completing her second PMC. Debbie was a cancer survivor, having beaten Hodgkin’s Disease while we were still in high school. Standing at the finish line that day, I watched riders come in—some as survivors, others riding for friends, siblings, parents, children, for those still fighting, and for those who had lost the battle. Moved by Debbie’s journey and the stories all around me, I committed to riding the following year.
That next August, I joined Debbie and our friend Jimmy St. Germain and rode all 192 miles in my first PMC. It was fun, brutally challenging, and the hardest physical thing I had ever done. At the time, Debbie’s cancer felt like a distant chapter from our high school years. But just three years later, cancer would hit much closer to home when my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She passed away in 1997 at the age of 61.
A few years later, Debbie encouraged her good friend Judy Songin and Judy’s husband—former Boston Bruin Terry O’Reilly—to ride their first PMC. Like so many before them, they were inspired and soon recruited other former Bruins. The following year, Frank Simonetti, Lyndon Byers, Rick Middleton, and Bob and Don Sweeney formed the first unofficial Bruins Alumni PMC team.
Then cancer returned to our family once again. Debbie was diagnosed for a second time at 38 years old, giving the ride an even deeper meaning for all of us. In 2010, my sister Cheri was also diagnosed and passed away just 10 months later at the age of 51. I stepped away from the PMC for a while, but Debbie never stopped riding. One year, she completed the PMC less than 30 days after major surgery—pure grit and determination. Sadly, in 2017, at only 54 years old, Debbie lost her battle with cancer. Then in 2020, I lost my close friend and cycling partner, Mike Goepfert, also to cancer.
After Debbie’s passing, Bob Sweeney—now President of the Boston Bruins Foundation—offered me a spot on what had become the official Bruins Foundation PMC team. Fueled by the loss of Debbie and Mike, my two cycling partners in life and in spirit, I returned with renewed purpose. I’ve continued to ride and fundraise alongside the incredible members of the Bruins Foundation PMC team, some of whom are cancer survivors themselves.
This may be my final PMC after 20 years, so I’m going out big. I’m aiming to raise more than I ever have.
Thank you for reading, for supporting, and for riding every mile with me—closer by the mile.
#CloserByTheMile
#PMC2026
#BostonBruinsFoundation
