AMSA Student is Youngest Cancer Survivor to ride PMC [Part 2]

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In 2004, with the support of his newly-constructed team, LEGS (Legs Ending Great Suffering), Mike approached the event with renewed interest. LEGS rode from Wellesley to Provincetown, and ever since, they have participated in the PMC each year.

“I wasn't really a charitable person before,” Mike said. “But now, instead of just giving a one-time donation like I might have before, I've been able to raise a lot of money, and more importantly, recruit new riders to the team.”

There are now close to 30 riders on LEGS.

The PMC offers teams the opportunity to have a “pedal partner”-a pediatric patient of the Jimmy Fund Clinic- to allow riders to connect firsthand with those who their hard work and fundraising will be benefitting, and show their support directly. LEGS's first pedal partner, Jake Boudreau -a neuroblastoma patient- happened to live only two miles away from the Mahler's house in Boylston, and a friendship between the two families was born.

2004 was the first year that LEGS rode for Jake, and though LEGS received a new pedal partner in 2008, the two families also collaborated on a kids' ride at the Hole in the Wall Camp in Connecticut -a camp for children with life-threatening conditions- where Jake spent many summers. This year, the ride raised enough money to send four children to the camp.

This year, however, LEGS will be riding in Jake's memory; in 2010, he passed away. This year, half of the proceeds from Sam's individual fundraising went to neuroblastoma research in honor of his friend. Sadly, LEGS's pedal partner from 2009, a young girl named Faith who was treated for a brain tumor at age one, has since passed away.

According to the event's website, the average PMC cyclist is 43 years old. By 43, many, if not all of us, have lost friends and family to cancer, had cancer ourselves, or have been otherwise touched by it. At age 13 and as the youngest cancer survivor to ever ride in the PMC, Sam has experienced all three. Naturally, this fact has garnered a fair amount of attention from the media, which Sam has modestly deemed “pretty cool,” though he does not discuss those parts of his life much at school.

“Some of my friends know that I had cancer or that I ride in the PMC, but that's about it,” he said.

Sam approached his dad about riding the 50-mile course in the PMC this year. However, he wanted to ride alone and make new friends along the way, though they did end up riding together. The two trained together frequently, This year, Sam also had the honor of counting down the start of the ride.

In 2003, at the outset of his first PMC ride, it was impossible for Mike to know just how his involvement in the event would change his family's life so profoundly. His wife Rene has volunteered every year that LEGS has been in existence, and daughter Ilana has participated in various rides and volunteered this year with the PMC's registration.

“I always bring new people onto the team with some trepidation,” he said. “Seeing kids in the hospital with tubes up their noses and being able to retain composure is tough. It's a sight you never get used to. But they need to see it. They need to know who their fundraising is going to help.”

“We've been able to meet so many amazing people who have suffered some serious heartache,” he said.

Visit Team LEGS's website and Sam's PMC page.

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