Thursday, April 29, 2010

PMC 2010 Here we come 163 miles, 2 days $8,400 raised for research!


Heidi after completing the Big Sur 9 miler last weekend
When my wife, Heidi, was diagnosed with Carcinoid cancer 2 1/2 years ago, I was very open with the process to all I knew, that's what I do. In return, you have all been so supportive of my family and me. Time for an update. Heidi still has cancer in her liver (20+ tumors). There are, at present, no great cures for this cancer. She is currently receiving monthy chemo-therapy type injections of Sandostatin, a drug from Novartis, which have shown to slow the growth or even shrink the tumors in some patients. Heidi's last scan of the liver showed that of the three largest of these tumors, two stayed the same size and one had shrunk by 2 mm in diameter. This was after a previous period of some growth being noted. That is great news!

On the positive front, Heidi is feeling great and has no ill effects from the treatment. Our kids (age 13, 11 and 10) don't spend their days thinking about their mom's health. We have not given cancer any power over our day-to-day lives. Heidi is amazingly strong and even supported another woman through her battle with cervical cancer recently. She just finished walking 9 miles of the Big Sur Marathon course last weekend in Northern California. Now our focus turns to training to ride our third Pan Massachusetts Challenge on August 7 & 8th across Massachusetts. This year we will take on the two day full version of the ride for a total of 163 miles. This is our main way to fight this cancer. Raise funds specifically targeted at finding a cure via the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, one of the top institutions in the country. I invite you to help us both reach our fundraising targets which totals $8,400 between us! The generousity we have seen in the past is amazing and we would welcome any support you could give this year. So far, in our prior two years of riding we have raised nearly $25,000. These funds are specifically spent on Carcinoid Cancer research, there is no other place we can make such a direct impact. 100% of donated gifts go directly to the research, no administrative costs.

If you know of someone who would like to support us, please forward them this link.

How to give:

Michael & Heidi - click the link:
Click on +Sponsor more than one rider with one donation
then click + Search by Name...
My name should already be populated and you add Heidi's by using her gift ID of HC0036 or her name and fill in the amounts.
We both have a committment of $4,200 each so splitting your contribution would be of most benefit!
If you do need it our gift IDs are HC0036 and MC0320.

Here is the link:
https://www.pmc.org/egifts/default.asp?Add=MC0320




Thanks you so much for your continued support,

Michael & Heidi Coburn

Michael & Heidi's Info

What is going on in our lives and occassional updates on Heidi's fight with Carcinoid Cancer.