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Every dollar donated goes toward Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Chris Doktor, Sarah Doktor, Nirajan Puri (our son-in-law), Gail Doktor, Jessie (our daughter and sister who lived with leukemia and died following two relapses) and many family members and friends have been involved in the Pan Mass Challenge for over 20 years: riding, volunteering, or supporting!
For several years, our daughter Jessie was a poster child for this event (see picture below). Then we started riding.
We ride, not just to remember and honor those who lived and died due to cancer, but for friends and family now living with cancer or flourishing as survivors. You know them: they’re your friends in this tight-knit community!
Children and adults in local communities and around the world continue to be treated by the Jimmy Fund Clinic, Dana Farber, and its affiliated hospitals including Chldrens Hospital Boston, Mass General, Brigham & Women and others. Local cancer centers and oncology clinics use treatment protocols researched, developed, and constantly updated by Dana Farber.
For 18 years, our team has been big, small, solo, and combined! We’ve been the inspiration, the energy, the organizers, the pedal-partners, the cyclists, the safety vehicle, the start-and-finish line volunteers, the midway water stop volunteers, and sometimes the storytellers. We’ve ridden for two days and over 180 miles and often for one day. Different routes, same cause! Your support makes all the difference .Many of our own local community members are treated in nearby oncology centers which all use trusted protocols and cutting-edge treatment developed by Dana Farber.
Doktor Family with PMC team in early 2000s! Jessie was a pedal partner. PMC 2009Jessie on a bike!Sarah face-painting with pedal partner families!
Annually we organize a paper crane drop. Often this coincides with the Floating Wish Lantern launch that is part of a wider community Illumination event along the river.
Our longtime friend Dr. William Tan, now a transplant and cancer survivor himself, as well as scholar, healer, and athlete who has overcome polio, returned to Boston to complete another Boston Marathon! He has finished several of them, including the memorable year he carried Jessie over the finish line on his lap!
Update: Enjoy a few snapshots from lunch after the marathon, and a selection of images from the past.
Jessie’s Floating Wish Lanterns floating past canoeists loading firewood onto bonfires in past Ipswich Illuminated event.
Jessie’s Floating Wish Lanterns return to the river and Ipswich Illuminated this year on the evening of October 5th. Come by to write a wish, light a light, and set it adrift on the river. Participation is free; donations support seasonal programming for pediatric cancer patients at Childrens Hospital Boston and Dana Farber, plus other sites.
Kayakers retrieve the lanterns and candles at the end of the evening, for fire safety and environmental sustainability.
On Monday, April 15, 2019, Dr William Tan returns as a wheelchair athlete in the Boston Marathon. He has been participating in this race for 17 years, and is a worldclass athlete, setting records on different continents during his lifetime.
The Doktor family’s connection to the Boston Marathon goes back to 2002, the first year that Dr William Tan, a wheelchair athlete from Singapore, partnered with Jessica Doktor to compete in the Marathon and raise funds for Childrens Hospital Boston. He continued to race every year, and notably carried Jessie across the finish line on his lap in his regular push chair one year. He shared his medals with Jessie and her sister Sarah.
Ironically, Dr. Tan was diagnosed with leukemia, and spent time undergoing chemo, radiation and a successful bone marrow transplant, before once more returning to the United States for several years to compete again in the Marathon. He continues to participate, in part, to draw attention to and raise funds and awareness for Bright Happy Power!
Other athletes have also raced in honor of and memory of Jessie, raising funds for Mass General Hospital and Dana Farber as well as Childrens Hospital boston.
Bright Happy Power is bringing a handful of volunteers to the hospital to host an event called Zoo Day. Patients and sibs can stuff their own animals, enjoy crafts and snacks, and take a break from life on treatment. Builds morale and emotional resilience.
Bright Happy Power’s Chris Doktor and Sarah Doktor will participate for the 9th year as a father-daughter team in the Pan Mass Challenge/PMC as part of the Team Kermit. Support their ride to raise funds and awareness to research and treat childhood cancer.
Monday, April 16, Jessie’s sister Sarah Doktor will volunteer in a medical tent at the Boston Marathon. Sarah has pursued a career in nursing, inspired by her younger sister’s journey with childhood cancer, as well as her work with various populations in the field of emergency medicine and public health. Our family’s connection to the Boston Marathon goes back to 2002, the first year that Dr William Tan, a wheelchair athlete from Singapore, partnered with Jessie to compete in the Marathon and raise funds for Childrens Hospital Boston. He continued to race every year, and notably carried Jessie across the finish line on his lap in his regular push chair one year. He shared his medals with Jessie, her sister Sarah. Ironically, Dr. Tan was diagnosed with leukemia, and spent time undergoing chemo, radiation and a successful bone marrow transplant, before once more returning to the United States for several years to compete again in the Marathon.Other athletes have also raced in honor of and memory of Jessie, raising funds for Mass General Hospital and Dana Farber.
In June 2018, Sarah Doktor, co-founder of Bright Happy Power, will host an event for cancer and transplant patients at Childrens Hospital Boston with volunteers with food, crafts, and games. The theme is “zoo day”.
In August 2018, Chris Doktor and Sarah Doktor will ride again in the Pan Mass Challenge to raise funds and awareness for cancer research and treatment. Click on their names to support their rides. They have been riding as a father-daughter team for 10 years. They now ride as part of Team Kermit.
