Cyclists hit high gear for cancer research

By CHRIS RUSSELL Bulletin Contributing Writer

Published on July 03, 2009

Jonathan Souweine - a well known Northampton attorney and longtime Amherst resident - spent some of his happiest moments in the seat of a bicycle. Souweine died in April after a five-year battle with leukemia, a cancer of the bone marrow, and Judith Souweine, his high school sweetheart and wife of 40 years, said she is riding in this year's Pan-Mass Challenge to raise money for cancer research, but also to remember her husband's love of athletics and the outdoors.

"We took many long and fun rides together," she said. "It's a way to honor that part of him."

Judith rides with a team called Pook's Pedalers - after Jonathan's nickname, "Pook" - which will be cycling through Provincetown on Aug. 2, the conclusion of their 165-mile journey that begins the day before in Wellesley.

Many participants have intensely personal reasons for enduring the often grueling Challenge, an annual bike-a-thon which has raised $240 million for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute since its inception in 1980, including $35 million last year.

Pook's Pedalers, who are in their third year of riding together, are no exception. In addition to Judith, the team includes Jonathan's sister, Jane Souweine, from Philadelphia; his sister-in-law, Leonora Wiener, from Brooklyn; and a friend, Sallie Deans Lake, from Northampton, who is a breast cancer survivor.

Judith, 61, said participating in the Challenge makes her feel like she is contributing to cancer research, as she raised about $20,000 over the past two years and has already raised $12,000 this year.

"We ride to support cancer patients, to help with research and to give back to this wonderful health-care facility (Dana-Farber) that does so much to help people with all sorts of serious cancer diagnoses," she said. "We know how much cancer research costs."

Amherst resident Bob Newcomb also rides to honor loved ones, as he lost his father to cancer while his mother is currently fighting lymphoma. He said the Challenge "has become an important part of my life."

"It is a great way to give back," he said, noting he was able to raise about $8,000 last year, his first time in the Challenge. "Why do I do it? Because I can."

Newcomb, 51, will complete the Sturbridge to Provincetown route as part of the Patriots Platelet Pedalers, a team that is sponsored in part by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. All money raised by the team will go directly to Dr. Ken Anderson, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and researcher at Dana-Farber.

Last year, Anderson said the team raised more than $600,000. Anderson, who specializes in multiple myeloma, a currently incurable bone marrow cancer, said Challenge money is essential to his research. "We have had six new treatment strategies developed over the past five years, which have helped some patients live twice as long as before," said Anderson.

The Patriots Platelet Pedalers also ride to raise awareness about the need for platelet donations.

Platelets are clotting agents in the blood which help control bleeding, but are depleted during many cancer treatments, requiring patients to receive platelet transfusions from healthy donors. Anderson said platelets are "the lifeblood of Dana-Farber."

"Without platelets, many of today's cancer treatments would not be possible."

Amherst resident Eric Heller is also a member of the Patriot Platelet Pedalers, and said he could not imagine spending the first weekend in August any other way. "You're surrounded by goodness all weekend," he said. "Around something so horrible, it's a really positive experience."

Heller, 55, has ridden in the Challenge for the last 15 years and has raised more than $60,000. Every year he has had a personal reason to be involved; last year he rode remembering his mother, who died the year before from cancer. "All of our family who rode did so as a memorial to her," he said. "We'll do it as long as we can."

Registration is open for the seven Challenge routes until July 10. Visit www.pmc.org.