PHAT Tuesday

Happy PHAT Tuesday!

2012-02-21T11:34:00.014-05:00

Happy PHAT Tuesday from Team PHAT Tuesday!

New Team Members

The team is excited to welcome some new, and returning members to the team this year. Lorretta Brightman, who has ridden the PMC in the past and has more recently been a dedicated volunteer (wonder how your bags get to your dorm room at MMA?), is once again riding the PMC this year for the first time as a member of the team. Her prior rides predate the official existence of the team. We all know Lorretta as the wife of the team's captain, Tim.

Also riding this year for the first time ever is Stephen Brightman, Tim and Loretta's son. Stephen, is named after Tim's brother who lost his battle with cancer before Stephen was born.

Michelle Knowles from Florida (near Jacksonville) is also officially a new member of our team. She has been riding the PMC for a while and was quite surprised on how we define "hills" coming out of Sturbridge :-) She rides in memory of a little girl that she used to baby sit that she became very close to who lost their battle with cancer. Please visit her PMC Profile page: pmc.org/MK0178.

Ed Shanahan is another new member of our team who hails from Virginia (he has ties to the local area). This is his first year riding and we are very excited to have him on board. The more the merrier. To learn more about why he is riding this year, please visit his PMC Profile page: pmc.org/ES0193.

Fund Raising Goals

Last year the team raised a record amount with over $220,000, almost $10,000 per rider! We have not yet set a goal this year, but it would be great to top last year's amount.<.p>

Pedal Partner

The team has once again applied for a Pedal Partner this year. What's a Pedal Partner? According to the PMC:

The Pedal Partner Program is an inspiring way for PMC cyclists to connect with pediatric oncology patients of the Jimmy Fund Clinic – the very children who receive more advanced treatments and state-of-the-art care as a result of the funds raised by the PMC.

Through this program, registered PMC teams are matched up with and ride in honor of Jimmy Fund Clinic patients, whom we affectionately refer to as our “Pedal Partners.” PMC cyclists report increased motivation for training as their relationships with their Pedal Partners build. For the Jimmy Fund Clinic Patients, the Pedal Partner Program offers an exciting distraction from their treatments, while introducing them to new friends.

Here at PHAT Tuesday, we just see it as adding a new member to our family. We are eager to find out who it will be this year.

PHAT Tuesday 2012 - "Like" Us!

2012-01-10T07:41:00.000-05:00

After one week of registration, PHAT Tuesday has 11 riders returning, committed to the cause. Share our commitment with a PHriend. Invite them to "like" us and help us get to 250 followers.

http://facebook.com/PMCPhatTuesday

Great Update about Ethan!

2012-01-10T07:25:00.001-05:00

Yeah!!!! Our PHriend, Brian Rossi, posted the follow update about Ethan...

We are praising God at the moment! Pardon us! Ethan's doctor called, I put the phone on speaker and she said "IT'S GOOD NEWS". She then explained that Ethan has an "Osteochondroma". The likely cause of it is the full body radiation he received. It is a benign growth and poses no immediate harm/risk to Ethan. She said that surgery to remove it would only occur if and when it ever posed him any discomfort, pain or mobility issues. At this point, there are no follow up plans. We are to keep an eye on it, but for now she is labeling it "yet another Ethanism that makes no sense". ;-)

Yay! Happy House! Happy Hearts! Thank you Lord!

A nice message to start the New Year off with...

2012-01-01T10:13:00.000-05:00

Elle's Updates

Happy 2012!

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the removal of Elle's tumor-ridden left kidney. You may recall it was 10 hours in the O.R. followed by 14 days in the hospital. We thank God for pulling her through that operation, the recovery, the rest of her treatment and for restoring her to health.

We are all doing well. Elle made her First Confession a month ago. Her semi-annual scans will take place in early February.

May each of you enjoy a peaceful and prosperous 2012!

Tim, Suzanne, Hope, Faith and Elle

Message From Krysta, Our 2010 Pedal Partner

2011-03-30T09:50:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone!

This year I am participating at my Relay for Life at Syracuse University! For the past two years I have been wanting to go to Syracuse for Fashion Design, it was my dream school and I made it here! I absolutely love school. Since being here I have joined a sorority, my club gymnastics team, taken a dance class (I have my show coming up next week!) and joined the Relay for Life committee. My friends and I have started a team and now I need your help!

Ever since being diagnosed with cancer I have learned more than I could ever imagine. I have lost so many friends to this battle and with each one it does not get easier. I am very fortunate to have made it through chemo and radiation and now it is my goal to spread cancer awareness and raise money for research.

Over the summer I was introduced to a girl through a mutual friend who had non-hodgkin's lymphoma and was going to be a freshman at Syracuse as well! We became friends grabbing dinner here and there just to talk about cancer stuff. We both were on the committee for Relay and she finished her treatment and was cancer free in December right before the first semester ended. We weren't even back a week into second semester when she texted me that she had relapsed and would have to take the second semester off to get treatment. I would be heartbroken if I was ever told that I needed to leave Syracuse to get more nasty treatment. We planned to walk the survivor lap together this year, and unfortunately I will have to do it alone. This year I relay for my friend Heather as well as all of those I have lost and those that I have become friends with because of cancer. I hope that next year Heather and I will walk the survivor lap together as we planned. Relay is only 10 days away! Please donate and help find a cure to cancer. Your dollar could be the dollar that finds the cure. Here's the link!

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11EA?pg=team&fr_id=29299&team_id=928695

Thank you for all of your help and support! <333 Krysta

PHAT Tuesday Quilt Raffle Winner!

2010-08-10T19:50:00.000-04:00

This past Friday in Sturbridge we were very successful in out raffle ticket sales.

Tonight, Patricia Middelmann, the "Quilter", reached into the jar and drew the winning ticket:

Number 645664

Congratulations to Maureen Britton!

(Keep it quiet though, she wants to surprise her husband with it tomorrow night)

2010 PHAT Tuesday Riding Jersey

2010-06-11T10:48:00.007-04:00

Presenting the 2010 PHAT Tuesday jersey. A lot of work went into this and we hope you all like it.

If you are interested in purchasing one, we are preparing to place an order.

The anticipated cost is $70. The price is dependent on the number we order.

If you like to purchase one we need, please send the following information to info@PHATtuesday.org

Style - Sleeveless or short sleeve.
Size - SM, MD, LG, etc...
- If for a female, indicate size based on a men's cut first and put womens cut size in ( )'s

The front(s) are the left & upper images. The back(s), right and lower images.

* Our sponsors will be added across the pockets on the back of the jersey. Space is still available for sponsors.

.

Multimedia message

2010-05-31T20:23:00.001-04:00

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Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Team PHAT Tuesday PMC.

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2010-05-31T16:27:00.001-04:00

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Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Team PHAT Tuesday PMC.

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2010-05-31T16:24:00.001-04:00

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Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Team PHAT Tuesday PMC.

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2010-05-31T16:23:00.001-04:00

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Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Team PHAT Tuesday PMC.

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2010-05-31T16:20:00.001-04:00

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Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Team PHAT Tuesday PMC.

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2010-05-31T16:19:00.001-04:00

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Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Team PHAT Tuesday PMC.

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2010-05-31T16:15:00.001-04:00

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Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Team PHAT Tuesday PMC.

An Official PHAT Welcome

2010-04-25T17:44:00.007-04:00

Team PHAT Tuesday is proud to announce their 2010 Pedal Partner, Krysta K..

Krysta, a 17 year old high school senior, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in December 2008 at the age of 16. She had a tumor the size of a pineapple that had crushed her left lung and was pushing on her heart. In addition, she had a smaller tumor in her right lung. Krysta underwent 12 weeks of chemo therapy and seventeen days of radiation.

The following is part of a note Krysta wrote us:

“…. Thankfully, Hodgkin’s is like the baby of all cancers and is extremely curable so I was able to have a short treatment. On the downside, cancer totally distorts your life, and getting back to normal is one of the hardest things to do...I still don’t think I've hit normal yet. During the 4 months that I spent undergoing treatment, I made quite a few very close friends. Last October, one of them passed away, and right now, one of them has relapsed. At this time, I have had my one year off chemo scan and I'm just taking it one day at a time. My friend who has just relapsed also has Hodgkin’s, and so it has been such a reality check for me that cancer can come back, even the baby kind. You are never done with cancer, no matter how much you want to be. I love the idea of the PMC because it raises money just for the Jimmy Fund, who gives us a lot of fun things to do when we are getting treatment. I painted pottery, made bracelets, followed their bead program, watched movies, used their iTunes program, and went on the spring training trip to Florida. There are not enough words to say thank you for giving all of these opportunities to me. It is because of you riders and the money you guys raise that make treatment less difficult. These are all things that I looked forward to. They were the upside of treatment. Thank you for riding! I am really excited to be apart of PHAT Tuesday!” - Krysta

Krysta is graduating from high school in June and plans to attend Syracuse University in the fall to study fashion design.

We are very happy to welcome Krysta to the PHAT Tuesday PHamily! Her story brings a different outlook to our team, that of thanks and hope. She is proof to us that our commitment to the Pan-Mass Challenge and the funds it raises for the Jimmy Fund are making a difference in the lives of cancer patients and their families. It also reinforces to us that there is still more work to be done.

Welcome Krysta!

PHAT Tuesday PHundraiser rocks the Adirondack!

2010-03-28T11:27:00.010-04:00

PHAT Tuesday held their 10th anniversary kickoff phundraiser on Saturday, March 27 at the Adirondack Club in Franklin with a packed house. The support from everyone involved was overwhelming and very much appreciated.

This was our first year holding the event at the Adirondack Club and it exceeded all our expectations. The venue, food, and staff were all top notch. With generous donations from local businesses and individuals there was a huge selection of raffle, silent auction, and live auction items. Top it all off with help and support from all of PHAT Tuesday and the extended PHAT phamily and it was a proud day to be PHAT!

Music was supplied by HoneyMac / Walkin' Blues Band and true to form they rocked the house. The first set was a jazzy set from HoneyMac that segued into the rocking/bluesy second set from the Walkin' Blues Band. The band worked hard prepping for the gig and the team and all the attendees really appreciated it and enjoyed both sets.

A good time was had by all and the event raised lots of dollars that will be put to good use at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

A sincere heartfelt "Thank You" to all that helped to make this event one of the best in PHAT history!

PHAT Tuesday Gets Energized..

2010-03-12T13:27:00.003-05:00

PHAT Tuesday welcomes National Grid to our team.

National Grid is an international electricity and gas company and one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world. National Grid plays a vital role in providing energy to many millions of customers across Great Britain and northeastern US in an efficient, reliable and safe manner. They are committed to being an innovative leader in energy management, safeguarding our global environment for future generations and providing all our customers with highest standards of service through ongoing investment in our systems and through our talented, diverse workforce.

PHAT Tuesday thanks National Grid for joining our PHamily.

You can learn more about National Grid at www.nationalgridus.com/masselectric

To become a team sponsor, contact team PHAT Tuesday at info@PHATtuesday.org

Help Make it Happen

2010-02-10T10:33:00.002-05:00

We need your help. Team PHAT Tuesday is looking for individuals willing to donate products or services for our 10-year Kick-off PHUN-draiser auction, March 27.

If you or someone you know can help support our effort, please contact us at info@PHATtuesday.org

You can see more info on PHAT Tuesday and our PHUN-draising event at www.PHATtuesday.org

Northeast Insurance Agency joins the PHAT's

2010-01-28T08:12:00.004-05:00

PHAT Tuesday welcomes the Northeast Insurance Agency, Inc. as one of our 2010 corporate sponsors. Special thanks to Susan Cosolito of the Westboro office for bringing the Northeast Insurance Agency into PHAT Tuesday family as we work toward our mission of a world without cancer.

The Northeast Insurance Agency, Inc. has provided insurance services to Massachusetts since 1989. They represent 25 insurance carriers guaranteeing the most appropriate and cost effective placement for their clients.

For more information on the Northeast Insurance Agency, Inc., please visit www.neinsure.com

To become a team sponsor, contact Tim Brightman at info@PHATtuesday.org

Welcome to the team

2010-01-22T11:07:00.005-05:00

PHAT Tuesday welcomes four new PHATs to the family for 2010.

Joel Loitherstein will be riding his 16th PMC, Jonathan Zarkower will be doing his 6th, Sharon Foster will be riding her 3rd and Jamie Rose will be the "new guy" riding his 1st PMC.

As of January 22, PHAT Tuesday's PMC roster numbers 17.

Taking The Next Step in 2010

2009-11-21T08:08:00.002-05:00

PHAT Tuesday will celebrate our tenth year as a Pan-Mass Challenge team in 2010 and we invite companies to take the next step with us.

Team PHAT Tuesday is one of the most recognized teams supporting the Pan-Mass Challenge. The PMC has become the nation’s most successful athletic fundraising event; generating over $30 million annually, with every rider-raised dollar going to life-saving cancer research & treatment. Each August, you will find our PHAT Tuesday team turning the cranks on our bikes in the PMC’s 200 mile ride across Massachusetts.

PHAT Tuesday has evolved into one of the most involved and visible teams supporting the PMC’s August event and other associated PMC annual programs. Because of our team’s visibility at the PMC events, we are often seen in the Boston newspapers as well as in the TV spotlights. Locally we work hard to promote our team and cause, also having our team events recognized in the local press and TV. We have embraced the internet, creating www.PHATtuesday.org, the PHAT blog, PHAT on Facebook, and ActiveWeGo.com (a website dedicated to group cycling and training), where, through all of these, we generate considerable activity and traffic.

We’re very proud of our accomplishments but, realize our current annual fund raising efforts are reaching their capacity. We believe with the cooperation of a series of corporate sponsorships, we can take things to another level and further our commitment to the fight against cancer.

We want to identify companies which appreciate our cause and ambition, and would help us in this effort with their financial sponsorship. If you are part of or know an organization that would see the value in teaming up with one of the most visible, recognizable and hard-working groups in the Pan-Mass Challenge, we would like chance to discuss this opportunity.

Please contact us at info@phattuesday.org for more information.

Sincerely,

Members of team PHAT Tuesday

Web: www.PHATtuesday.org

Jake's Recent Updates

2009-10-13T18:44:00.004-04:00

Jake's mom, Kim recently posted the following update.

Cancer World Stinks!

Posted Oct 8, 2009 11:03am

That is a given on any day but I'm finding out today that yesterday was particularly bad. Nothing changed for us at clinic but we saw 2 of our long time patient friends there yesterday and found out this morning that they both got not great news after their appointments. Please say a few prayers for Charlotte and Kira who don't deserve any of this. Both kids looked great and it is hard to hear the news.

Yesterday at clinic was like old home week-yes crazy that is how we see clinic sometime. We saw so many of our old friends on and off treatment that have been living this as long or longer then us. Jake joined a pizza party with his friends Chris and Hayley and was happy to see so many others. I love to see the kids making the best of this situation. It was great to see Maddie and her mom Paula who is one of our inspirations since she just passed her one year off treatment visit from the relapse protocol that we are on right now. Yay maddie! She looks beautiful and Jake even blushed a little when he saw her. :)She gives us the hope we need for the future.

Jake has been feeling good still. His night terrors stopped shortly after I posted last, which was a relief. He is back on steroids this past week and has been eating like a champ. He has gained a few pounds which will be a good buffer going into this next more difficult cycle where he likely will lose some weight. His blood counts were great and was able to get his last dose of chemo for this cycle. Next week he will move into the next phase which runs for 24 weeks(until we hit our 1 year mark) Next Wednesday he will have to begin going inpatient again pretty frequently. He will start off with the very tough Ara-C which is the one that drops his counts to nothing for an extended time. So I will be gearing up to bunk at Chez Children's for planned and unplanned stays. We will also have to start the blood thinning shots daily next week again and and GCSF shots too so we will be back to 2 shots a day many days. He is not happy about this in the least. Neither are we! He still has bruises all over his legs from the last round. The alternative is that the clot in his heart gets bigger and that is just not an option in our book!

For now we will enjoy our last weekend of unbridled fun, sports, etc before the shoe drops. I am just so thankful for the summer we had and that he has been able to be in school for the first 6 weeks to get settled. I never thought that would even happen. We got some pictures in the mail yesterday that were taken at Hole in the wall Camp(courtesy of Flashes of Hope) of our beautiful bald boy. I will post one in the photo gallery soon! It show how far he has come even from July. Thanks for checking in!

Prayers for all our friends, please...

Love, Kim

You can keep up with Jake's updates at www.carepages.com/carepages/JakeMaguire

PHAT Tuesday

An update from Kira's carepage

2009-10-09T08:12:00.004-04:00

Below is the reason PHAT Tuesday rides the Pan-Mass Challenge. Kira Corning, a member of our PHAT Tuesday PHamily and our 2006/2007 Pedal Partner.

Not as planned

Posted 10/08/09

We just got punched in the stomach again. Although the preliminary read of Kira’s MRI said her spine was clear, the senior radiologist noticed something showing up, a very small enhancement, in her lower spine. Unfortunately this was noticed after we were told stable last week and long after Kira was out of the MRI machine. Now this could be a blood vessel as it isn’t presenting as a typical tumor. Kira doesn’t do anything “typically” so no matter how much they are trying to tell us they aren’t alarmed, and that this is just “unsettling” and not alarming, we are sick to our stomachs. Bottom line, we need to get more pictures and some cross sections to determine what this enhancement is in her spine. The plan is to get another MRI of brain and spine, with thinner slices and do it hopefully in 3 weeks as her end of treatment MRI. And hopefully, fingers crossed, this will actually be just an end of treatment MRI and not the start of something new.

KIRA KNOWS NOTHING about this. She doesn’t need to know. They’ll redo the MRI and then we’ll either be done, or figure out the next line of treatment. Until we figure out what we have, we are just going along as “normal”. Yeah, easier said than done. Our oncologist did go over some advances they have made thanks to people raising money for them to do research. So if you donated to Kira’s Kruisers recently, you’ve really helped us out! Our team has contributed over $83,000 to research. If this is not a blood vessel in Kira’s spine and in fact disease, we have a lot of new medicines that we can try thanks to research being done.

Some other friends at clinic got some bad news yesterday too. I just cannot ever get used to hearing our friends continually relapse. Hey, some also got good news too and I’m so very happy for that. Please just keep all our clinic friends in your thoughts.

ENOUGH DOOM AND GLOOM! Kira’s 8th birthday was this past weekend and we had a blast. We went to the RainForest Café for lunch with the Eisnors and then to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in 3D! The slideshow I’ve been using isn’t allowing me the edits I want, so a few comments on the slideshow. There is one picture when Mary sees Kira and basically goes air born into Kira’s arms! Then there’s a few where the girls are looking around SCREAMING during the “rain storm” in the restaurant. It was hysterical!

Copy and paste the link below into your browser to see the slideshow:

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=reneecorning&SID=259906&Show=Y&p=

To read more about Kira, you can visit her carepage at www.carepages.com/carepages/KirasCorner

Fund Raising Update - Oct 1

2009-10-01T09:00:00.003-04:00

Greetings! October 1st is the deadline for all PMC riders to have their "minimum" in. At this time, all members of the PHAT Tuesday team have met their minimum fund raising requirement and then some. (Though it is never to late to give. www.pmc.org/tp0049 )

PHAT Tuesday's team total is at $112,642.77. Just $1,360 short of making us a Heavy Hitter team. Still an outstanding job!

On behalf of the entire team, "Thank you" to all who supported team PHAT Tuesday in 2009!

....

Elle's Updates

2009-08-12T18:59:00.004-04:00

This is the latest update from our Pedal Partner's carepage...

This is why we continue to ask for your support...

It's never too late... visit.. www.pmc.org/tp0049

Uncharted Territory

Take a million kids. Maybe 100 of them develop childhood cancer. Out of those, say 10 will get Wilm's tumor. Perhaps two of those will have a form of the disease that doesn't respond completely to standard treatment. Elle is beyond that point today.

The official pathology results were delivered to us earlier today and as many of you have already heard, viable tumor was found in the two nodules that were extracted from her lung. These cells appeared to be completely unaffected by the chemotherapy treatment that Elle has received to date.

It seems that the portion of Elle's disease that remains is a rather rare form - so rare that her doctors are having trouble finding other cases to compare her to. As one doctor put it, one could spend an entire career as a Wilm's tumor specialist and only encounter one or two similar cases.

This lack of case history means that while there are several treatment options available to her at this point, there is no guarantee that any will work - not that the doctors don't think they have a chance of being effective, it's just that with so few like cases, there is no established protocol for eliminating this form of the disease.

That is the bad news. The good news comes from it, and that is that the cells that remain of Elle's original tumor probably have not responded to conventional chemotherapy because they are so slow growing. The standard treatment works on cells that are dividing or preparing to divide, states that normal cells spend relatively little of their lifetime in. The thought is that the remaining cancerous cells aren't dividing rapidly, and so aren't that vulnerable either.

Elle will have a CT scan tomorrow to ascertain what growth of the tumors, if any, has occurred in the ten weeks she's been off treatment. The results will help us determine what course to follow next. If the scan shows no change in the size of the lesions, we will have the luxury of more time to decide what to do. This will likely involve some sort of clinical trial of an experimental drug. If it looks like the tumors have grown or spread, we might put her on a newly developed protocol of standard chemotherapy agents.

We hope to hear on Thursday that Elle's disease is stable. This is entirely possible, and in fact one of the options the doctors were seriously considering was to simply sit back and monitor her condition. Apparently, in the few similar cases that are known, the disease can remain in a quiescent state for years. However, since the experimental treatments that Elle could receive have relatively few side effects, we will probably go forward with a trial in any case.

I will wrap this update up with the medical "so" that has become all to familiar to us over the past few months - so, we do not have a course of action at this time, nor do we even have a medically-based prognosis for Elle. There is just not enough known about children in her situation. We are truly in uncharted territory and will rely our faith and the grace of God to help us make the right decisions about Elle's future treatment. Please continue to keep Elle in your prayers.

Thank you.