Millis Teens Take on PMC Ride for Teacher

A 50-mile bike ride?
It’s not something most teens do every day, but four local students donned their helmets and formed a team to raise money in the name of their beloved teacher on August 6, for the annual Pan Mass Challenge Teen Ride, which ran from Wellesley to Patriot Place, in Foxboro, and back.
Millis High School students Georgia Riordan, Carter Howley, Madeline Pudelka and Anna Pasquantonio formed a team, led by another one of their teachers and adult advisor Mrs. Yvonne FitzGerald to do the route in honor of Michelle “Shep” Shepardson, who teaches 8th grade math at Millis Middle School. Shepardson was diagnosed with stage 3B breast cancer the day before Halloween last year.
“We were running a half marathon, and she found the lump two days before the marathon and got her results Friday before Halloween,” says FitzGerald, who considers Shepardson her best friend. “It was really scary. It all happened so fast,” she says.
“My cousin had been doing the ride for six years, and you have to be 15 to ride,” says Georgia Riordan. “Since Shep had been diagnosed with breast cancer, I thought, now is the time.” Riordan also ran in memory of her grandmother she lost to breast cancer.
Riordan enlisted her friends to join the cause, and they were eager to take on the challenge.
Madeline Pudelka had always wanted to participate in a fundraising race, much like her Mom, who has run marathons raising money for Dana Farber. She figured this bicycle run was a great way to begin, and it gave her the chance to honor her grandmother’s memory, as Pudelka’s grandmother was also lost to cancer.
In fact, every one of the four riders have been touched by cancer in his or her families. Carter Howley says his grandmother has battled cancer twice and survived it. When friends were doing the ride, he says, “They kind of inspired me to do it – a combination of those things. I just felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Anna Pasquantonio was game for trying the teen PMC Ride, having participated in a number of walks for the Jimmy Fund.
“I’ve done the Jimmy Fund walk a lot, for the past couple of years,” says Pasquantonio, who participates in the walk with her Mom. “We have a lot of people who have had cancer in our family, so we do it for them,” she says.
The foursome participated in spin classes to prepare themselves for the ride. Each teen on the team needed to raise $500, while their adult advisor needed to garner $1,000.
Although asking for donations is difficult to do, Georgia notes, “I think people are generous donating to the Jimmy Fund, because they know it all goes to Dana Farber.” In fact, the Jimmy Fund’s PMC ride is the single largest contributor to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The event comprises half of the Jimmy Fund’s annual revenue, all of which goes to Dana-Farber. Last year alone, the event raised $45 million, and its goal this year was $46 million. For more information on the PMC Ride, visit www.pmc.org.
The Millis team will have until October to reach their own goals, and you can support any one of the members by visiting http://www2.pmc.org/donation.asp