Friday, October 26, 2012
Dr. Julie Silver needed to recover and rehabilitate after she had breast cancer. She realized others need this, too.
About a year after Julie Silver, M.D., finished treatment for breast cancer, she was talking to one of her best friends, and started crying. The friend remarked, "I didn't realize this was still so hard for you. I thought you were all done. You always walk around with a smile on your face." While the smile was sincere, Silver admits that most of the world didn't know how sick she really was. "They didn't realize how long it was to recover," said Silver. "I thought a lot about how your outward appearance can look restored, but physically you can be tired, be in pain, and have problems with endurance. I thought, 'If I fooled one of my best friends, what must the rest of the world be thinking?'" When Silver was in recovery from breast cancer…
Friday, September 30, 2011
AMSA 8th grader and Boylston resident Sam Mahler and father Mike Mahler talk about experiences with the Pan-Mass Challenge.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
- Liz Bergman
-
Friday, September 30, 2011
Read Part 1 here. 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…
Thursday, September 29, 2011
AMSA 8th grader and Boylston resident Sam Mahler and father Mike Mahler talk about experiences with the Pan-Mass Challenge.
It's a rainy Friday afternoon in early fall. Alternating between fidgeting in his seat and peering at his laptop behind shaggy brown hair, it is evident that Sam Mahler has had a long week of school at AMSA. It is evident that he's excited —but a bit relieved— that his bar mitzvah finally happened last weekend. It is also evident that Sam Mahler is a fairly typical thirteen-year-old boy. But if you ask his father, Mike, you'll learn that this easy normalcy is not taken for granted. Sam is a survivor of mucoepidermoid carcinoma, a rare oral cancer. Though Sam has been cancer-free for eight years and is now considered cured, the Mahler family has been forever changed by cancer —forging new friendships, mourning losses, and pushing themselves…
