A patient's tribute
Just by virtue of being a happy, successful, physically active woman, Rebecca Hopkins is certifiably fortunate.
The junior at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I., has survived a brain tumor, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. None of that interrupted her career as a high school runner or slows her down now.
She will be one of 5,000 riders in next week's Pan-Mass Challenge, the annual 192-mile bike ride to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Many of those who ride do so to celebrate their own recoveries. Some ride in support of loved ones or in memory of them. Hopkins will be riding in honor - and in place of - Dr. Samuel Blackman, the doctor who successfully treated her as an adolescent.
"For me, this is the pinnacle of what it means to be a doctor," Blackman said this week. Blackman has ridden in the event the past two years, as part of a team that has raised more than $200,000. Hopkins wanted to ride with her doctor this year, then learned that he would be sitting out. Since his last long-distance ride, he has changed jobs, moved to Philadelphia, and become a father, life changes that took precedence. So she will be riding in his place.
"To be able to help people and give them a better life, that's great." Hopkins said yesterday. "It's something I can do, so I might as well do it."
Blackman knew nothing about the Pan-Mass Challenge when he moved to Boston in 2004 for a fellowship at Children's Hospital. He knew something about biking, though.
"I worked my way through grad school teaching spinning classes," he said. "I promised myself that when I finished the fellowship I would do it for my patients - in their honor and in memory of the ones that didn't survive. I decided to do it for all my kids."
As if biking that distance wasn't a big enough challenge, he set an ambitious goal of raising $100,000. "I've found in my life that the best way to make yourself stick to a goal is to tell everyone about it," he said.
He set up a website, www.rideforthem.com, and started soliciting. "I don't know any rich people, but I know a lot of people," he said. "I figured if 1,000 people give me $100 each, I'm all set."
The Pan-Mass Challenge has a fund-raising goal this year of $34 million, and if history is any indication, it will exceed that mark. Billy Starr, the event's founder, likens the ride to a movement, noting that 70 percent of the riders have done the ride at least once before. It has raised a staggering $204 million in its 28-year history. Despite a tough environment for cancer research funding, and charities generally, Starr remains upbeat.
"We have the cachet of being the Tour de France of charity events," he said. "I think people ride because they feel a sense of empowerment, of being part of something special. This is a testament to what people can do."
Hopkins was first diagnosed with cancer at 11. Part of her brain tumor was removed, but began to grow again after a few years. That is when she became a patient of Blackman's. She responded to radiation, and reports that she is now virtually symptom-free. She has giving up running in favor of cycling, which she finds less tiring.
Blackman, meanwhile, has done more than simply relocate. He is working for
"When you save a pediatric patient, you don't just save a life, you save a future," Blackman said. "I think Rebecca and her fight are proof positive of that. This is a person who I know for a fact is going to make a difference in this world."
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com.
