Welcome to my site where I attempt to make a difference for cancer patients throughout the world by generating financial donations to the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (
DFCI) in Boston, Massachusetts through the
Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (
PMC)/Jimmy Fund. The
PMC is an 192 mile (two day) cycling event where cyclists are sponsored by individuals/companies in order to raise the money needed to fight cancer through research and for cancer care. I am one of those cyclists. Each sponsor's donation goes directly to the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (
DFCI) in Boston, Massachusetts via the
Jimmy Fund, the fund raising arm of the
DFCI. The
Jimmy Fund was established in 1949. The
PMC was established in 1980 and has since raised over half of the
total money the
Jimmy Fund has raised in donations since it's inception or a total of $1,047,000,000.00, as of January 1, 2025. It is the largest sum of money ever contributed to a charity by an athletic fund raising event anywhere in the world. I got involved in 2007. By the end of the eighteenth year, December 31, 2024, I had moved a total of $508,356.00 in donations. Many donations come from the same individuals who give to my cancer drive year after year. But there are many new contributors every year as well. In 2025, my goal is to raise over $40,000.00 as soon as I can and then add to that total. I have never reached that mark. The closest I came was the 2021 season where I was able to raise $37,950.00. One hundred percent of every donation I receive goes to cancer research; not a penny goes to administrative costs. Thank you all for your, generosity, trust and support!
The digital image above was taken by someone using my
iPhone 13 pro on August 8, 2021, at the Hyannis, Massachusetts water stop on the second day of the
PMC ride and the last water stop before we ended in Provincetown, Massachusetts, about twenty miles from the finish of the whole event. I was lucky enough to have a picture taken with some of the people who are most important in
P4K team. I'm the one in the middle with the white helmet, glasses and white cycling visor, on the left is
Andy Carver, who's whole family is involved in the
PMC and who's house is right along the ride route, on the far right is
Mike Parent, the organizer of
P4K and our illustrious captain, and, behind us, is
Patrick Cananagh, who has been so instrumental in helping to keep us together as a group and has been so helpful to me. There are others I could add that are also very important but I wasn't lucky enough to get that digital image. This was the last ride I completed in the
Pan-Mass. Challenge. In 2022, my son got married on the same Saturday of the
PMC event that year. In 2023, I broke my back in a cycling accident on June 5, 2023 which prevented me from doing much of anything that year until October. In 2024, I was prohibited from riding in the event as I had no conclusive evidence that just an ordinary fall wouldn't sever my spine where I had burst fractures at T8 & T9 in June 2023. I do plan to ride the event in 2025. But we will have to wait and see on that score before I can tell you for sure.
The thing I like most about the PMC ride is meeting everyone, the like minded wonderful individuals who make this such a great event. I look at the regular PMC ride as a gift to me for all the fund raising I do.
Paul Haseltine (Hez) was the person who suggested I do this event in 2006 after he had ridden in it that year for his first time. I was interested in helping fight cancer. He also knew that I liked riding a road bike for distance. He said; "This would be perfect for you. You can raise money for cancer, push the donation money to a reputable organization located in our own back yard and enjoy a challenging, well run and felicitous cycling event." I researched it. The more I read about the event and the many successes of the DFCI, the more I liked the idea. Hez had completed one of the shorter rides in 2006. I agreed to do it with him for the first time in 2007 if we could do it together and take part in the longest ride. We have been doing it ever since, staying in the same room at Sturbridge and MMA. A life long friend, I wouldn't do the event without him. Or, at least, it wouldn't be nearly as fun. I got more serious about it when he was found to have prostate cancer a couple of years after we started doing it together. Hez was also the one who suggested that I be part of the P4K team. He thought my donation money would be better spent funneling it directly to research and that this was, in his opinion, the preeminent team to belong to. Again, I did the research and decided to give it a try. Now I too feel that I get more bang for the buck by riding and pooling donation money with the P4K team. I guess to me, Hez is the most important cog in the wheel of my involvement. I've come to believe that he has the most common sense of anyone who I have had the pleasure to know. He's a good friend. My best friend.
The reasons to donate are many. But there are a few salient reasons to continue to do so.
First, the DFCI is good at what they do, one of the top five cancer research & care facilities in the country every year.
Second, one hundred percent of your donation goes right to the source, the DFCI. The cost of running the PMC (about $5 million) is underwritten by businesses around Boston. So every rider raised penny goes right to the general fund or an specific area of oncology of your choice.
Mine goes directly to research. As mentioned above, I belong to a team called Precision for Kids (P4K), the name of the team derived from the type of "new age" cancer research called precision cancer medicine. This will be the fifth year I have belonged to this team. In the twelve seasons before, my money went to the general fund. I decided to go with the Precision for Kids team because they fund research with Dr. Katherine Janeway, a cancer survivor herself, who divides her time between working at DFCI and Boston Children's Hospital in genetic profiling. Her goal is to find the specific gene in the DNA sequence of the person with the cancer, use a targeted drug that will "switch off" the gene (they haven't yet learned how to replace the gene) causing the cancer and, thus, bypass the traditional use of chemotherapy and radiation while curing the patient. She has already had great success in real time with several children at the time of this writing. This made me want to direct my donor's money in her direction. Nine years ago her research wasn't being funded at all! Once her methods are perfected, the techniques will spread to all other research teams for all types of cancers. I'm excited about the prospects of her team's work.
Third, the DFCI is in our back yard.
Fourth, the innovative work they do spills into other facilities and other areas of medicine making it better for everyone in the U.S. and around the world.
Fifth, you can deduct your donation when filing your tax returns.
Sixth, the more money the DFCI receives, the better able they are to hire the best people (researchers/doctors) to do the job. This will continue to make them the best to support.
Seventh, individuals I know are now cancer free because of the good work at the DFCI.
Thank you all so much for supporting me in this wonderful event. It's the event of a life saved for many of those people with the disease. And cancer won't go away unless someone gets involved. I am just one of the many who believe in this event. And, last year, this one cycling event raised over $75,000,000.00.
The event has many rides. Mine, the longest of the few available and the original ride, has two legs. It starts in Sturbridge at 5:30 AM sharp on Saturday, August 2, 2025 and ends, on the first day/leg, 111 miles away at Bourne, Massachusetts at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (where we will be spending the night). The second day/leg starts at 6:00 AM (or earlier - depending on the rider - there is no established/organized group start on the second day) on Sunday, August 3, 2025 and ends, 81 miles away, in Provincetown, Massachusetts. I have a ticket for the slow ferry that leaves Provincetown at 3:00 PM and arrives in Boston, Massachusetts sometime before sunset.
I am seventy-three years old, a life long endurance athlete and an avid deep sea party boat fisherman/captain/owner and President/General Manager of my family's restaurant business in Perkins Cove (Barnacle Billy's, Inc.) Ogunquit, Maine. I chose the PMC as my first pick for a fund raiser because of the cycling but also because I wanted to be part of something that really has an impact on cancer research. The researchers I support have already cured five individuals who never had a hope of survival until Dr. Janeway's team got involved. In fact, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City sent Dr. Janeway her first patient, a girl, eight years ago because their efforts, at the time, were not helping. In fact, the initial cancer had metastasized to other organs in the girl's body. The Center had heard of Dr. Janeway's innovative work and suggested to the girl's parents that they should take a trip to Boston. The parents took the Center's advice and rented an apartment near the DFCI. The rest is history. This girl has been cancer free for ten years. It took almost six months to find the drug that would shut off the gene that was creating the cancer. I am very grateful to have found such a great place to put our donation money.
Keep in mind, the amount donated is not the most important thing, although the more the better. But the number of donors is very important indeed. I don't care how large or small the donation is as every bit of money will help cancer victims in some way. If you, as a donor, want to make your contribution anonymous, write this as a note with your check and it will be so. Otherwise, donors and donations will appear below. This list will be edited as soon as I am able with your contribution added in order of the date on the check or the date I receive the check. Thank you in advance.
pan-massachusetts challenge website: www.pmc.org
Dedicating the New Fundraising Season to Captain Ian Keniston
 |
 |
The digital images above are shots of Captain Ian Keniston taken by me during a bachelor party we hosted for him, captained by me, on November 16, 2004, four days before he got married. Ian was 34 years old that day and the first year that he captained the Bunny Clark, my deep sea fishing boat. My focus on that trip was to catch Ian his first cod over 50 pounds. I had saved a few big cod spots for months, waiting for this day. Apparently, there were few who knew of these spots as there were big cod on every spot I tried. Early in the trip Ian caught a 41.5 pound cod, the shot on the left, the largest cod that he had ever caught to that point in his life. On the last spot of the day he caught a 52 pound cod, the largest cod of his life, shown in the digital image on the right. It would remain the largest cod until he passed away from health complications on December 15, 2024. He captained the Bunny Clark for twenty years, including all of 2024, the best captain I ever had on that boat. I considered him the best captain in New England. No one ever gave me the evidence to prove me wrong. I'm dedicating this years fundraising to him as he helped me raise donations to fight cancer since the moment I got involved in 2007. Every fishing trip as part of the orientation speech before the trip left the dock in the morning he would promote the PMC. It was the last part of the speech. He never forgot to mention it. This was a large part of my fundraising efforts. He championed the PMC with the note: "Everyone knows someone who has cancer." It was a simple phrase but a phrase he came up with that generated many donations. His passing was a crushing blow to me. It was also a crushing blow to Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing. Without him, the fishing experience won't be the same. My plan is to run all the trips myself in the coming season. The trips will be greatly reduced, at least to start. But we will continue on. It would be hard to imagine not taking people fishing on the ocean. I have done so professionally since 1975. In my later years, Ian made it possible to show the world our best. Without him, I will just have to treasure the memories that I would not otherwise have had. I hope to always be able to remember the highlights of those years. He will be sorely missed. He was 54 years old and had worked for me for twenty-seven years.
A digital image of me,
Tim Tower, taken at 10:00 AM, August 6, 2016, fifteen miles from the finish of the first leg of the
PMC ride from the Sturbridge to Provincetown route. This leg stopped at
Mass Maritime Academy where we would stay over night in the dorms there before the start of the next day. At the time the shot was taken, the photographer was lying prone on the right hand side of the road. I was the second rider to pass him. But I lost my place when I stopped to fill water bottles at the next water stop. As is customary on the first day, I am wearing the full
2016 PMC kit with matching socks.
© PMC Photography
Tim Tower as seen during the running leg of the West Kennebunk Fire Company Triathlon on Aug 26, 2006.
© EJS Photography
Tim Tower as seen during swim/bike transition during the West Kennebunk Fire Company Triathlon on Aug 26, 2006. After the swim, the bike is taken (running) with the shoes already clipped in. In this image, Tim has already mounted the bike (which is moving at 10 mph), the right foot is in and he is in the process of getting the left foot in the shoe.
© EJS Photography
A shot of me (Tim Tower) in transition after the ocean swimming leg of West Kennebunk Fireman Triathlon sprint (the swim was a third of a mile) on August 26, 2007.
© Capstone Photography (www.capstonephoto.com)
A digital image taken of Teagan Carver, Andy Carver's daughter, and I at Andy's house on August 7, 2021 during the ride. Andy's house is right on the route from Sturbridge to Bourne, Massachusetts. He is one of the main talents of the P4K team and very generous with his time in that regard. There were a number of the team individuals who stopped at the same time. Teagan is modeling the 2021 Bunny Clark/PMC t-shirt. I design a new shirt for every PMC season. The shirt is always a different color, the design is unique and they are all cotton, with some exceptions.
© Tim Tower Photograph
Paul "Hez" Haseltine during the 2015 PMC. A shot taken on the ride during the second day on the way to Provincetown, Massachusetts. At the time, Hez had done the event for eleven years, one more year than I had. But we have ridden together in the PMC since 2007, a year after he had ridden in the event without me for the first time. We have taken part in this event together ever since.
© PMC Image
At the finish, on the last day, at the Provincetown Inn, the PMC puts on a lunch under a huge tent adjacent to the Inn. On August 5, 2018 at 1:00 PM, I ran into Billy Starr, the founder and CEO of the PMC. I asked Billy if I could have a "selfie" of he and I, which he obliged (below). I am the one in the black PMC cap and sunglasses. It has been a great honor to know the man.
© Tim Tower Image
A week after the 2016 PMC, Jonathan Cartwright (left) & I find ourselves riding together again. At this point I still haven't taken the racing numbers off my bike yet! This shot was taken in Kennebunk by Daniel Braun.
© Daniel Braun Image
Picture taken of me, Tim Tower, on the bike leg of the West Kennebunk Fireman (Olympic length) Triathlon on June 17, 2007.
© Capstone Photography (www.capstonephoto.com)
One of my best friends and fellow PMC rider, Paul Haseltine (left) and myself at Sturbridge, Massachusetts during dinner on the eve of the 2007 PMC ride, Friday, August 3, 2007, my introduction to the PMC. My first time at the event! Notice the Fish Tunes T-shirt - well before it was publically known that The Wildlife Refugees would produce such an astounding collection of original music about fishing.
© PMC Photo
In this digital image I am wearing the full kit of the Maine Coast Cycling Club, an organization that I am very happy to be a part of. Probably the nicest crew that I have ever cycled with. One of the rides leaves every Sunday from Kennebunkport at 8:00 AM (9:00 AM in the winter) and goes for 25 to 50 miles, depending on the on the group you are in. Every Sunday morning you will find me with the MC3 crew. Rides average 20 to 21 mph in the faster groups and 17 mph in the slowest group. No one that gets dropped is ever left behind. And I always wear this kit proudly on the second day of the PMC.
© Tim Tower Photo
A shot taken at 4:30 AM, August 1, 2009 at the Sturbridge, Massachusetts starting line putting the bikes in position before the beginning of the ride. The digital image shows me (Tim Tower) on the right and my best friend and cycling mate, Paul Hesaltine, on the left. At this time I never would have thought that six hours later I would be lying on the ground unconscious from a bike crash.
© PMC Photo
Sitting on a hospital gurney in the emergency room at Tobey Hospital in Wareham, Massachusetts after I tapped the wheel of the rider ahead of me and went down on the pavement. The crash happened ten miles from the finish of the first day at the 2009 PMC while sitting in, riding with a group of fifteen cyclists. The quick response of the emergency crew had an EMT standing over me within a minute, the ambulance another five minutes. I was rendered unconscious during the crash but the CAT scan results at Tobey came out negative. Such are the dangers when riding with others on a bicycle. The crash was totally my fault but, except for a slightly separated shoulder and a cut over my eye (that required a few stitches), all my injuries were in the "road rash" category.
© Paul Haseltine Photo
Training for the PMC every Sunday with the Maine Coast Cycling Club. This shot was taken on July 23, 2017.
© Tim Tower Photo
On the last day I finished ahead of my cycling mates, Jonathan Cartwright and Daniel Braun. However, this gave me an opportunity to take a picture of them "high fiving" just after the finish line in Provincetown, Massachusetts on August 6, 2017. Daniel is the cyclist on the left.
© Tim Tower Photo
The shot below was taken by Andy Carver, a selfie of sorts showing Andy in the foreground. To his right is yours truly, just to the left of another cyclist. We are no more than seven miles out from the start line on August 4, 2018. The first day everyone wears the PMC kit of that year. Every year the PMC kits are different. Andy was a professional football player (goalie) in England before moving to the United States and raising a family here. He owns a commercial painting company in Boston. A superb athlete, Andy is always a lot of fun to ride with and certainly a challenge on a bike.
© Andy Carver Photo
A picture taken of Steve LaPlante and I before the start of 2011 Pan-Mass Challenge at 4:45 AM in Sturbridge, MA. Steve is wearing the 2011 Bunny Clark/PMC t-shirt. I am wearing the 2011 PMC full kit.
© Paul Haseltine Photo
A digital image of Lance Armstrong at 5:30 AM at the start of the 2011 Pan-Mass Challenge in Sturbridge, MA on August 7, 2011. This was the one and only time that Lance did this ride. I caught up with him at the 13 mile mark and ended up riding with him for almost 30 miles. At one point during the ride he held my wheel as we left the group he was riding with (Senator John Kerry's group). Although I tried talking with Lance during the ride, he did not talk to me.
© Tim Tower Photo
A digital image of U. S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) at 5:30 AM at the start of the 2011 Pan-Mass Challenge in Sturbridge, MA on August 7, 2011. I rode with Senator Brown for a while and talked with him before leaving him in order to catch up with the Lance Armstrong/Senator Kerry group. I found him to be a very receptive down to earth guy. Very unpretentious and a delight to talk with.
© Tim Tower Photo
A digital image of U. S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) at 11:00 AM during the end of the first day ride in the 2012 Pan-Mass Challenge on August 4, 2012. We were only a quarter of a mile (the 112 mile mark) from the finish of the first day ride from Sturbridge, MA to Bourne, MA (Mass. Maritime Academy). Senator Kerry is the rider with the black/white shorts and orange Cervélo bike. Surrounding him were the Secret Service contingent who he rode with. I rode for 70 miles with Senator Kerry's group that day. Senator Kerry rode the PMC for many years until he became Secretary of State in 2013 and was unable to participate in the ride that year.
© Tim Tower Photo
Every Saturday start of the PMC every year, good friends and regular anglers of my boat, the F/V Bunny Clark, drive to Sturbridge, Massachusetts to arrive at 4:30 AM to see Hez and I off and wish us good luck on the first leg of the PMC ride. We always try to get a digital image of the four of us. This shot was taken on August 3, 2019 at 5:00 AM. From left to right are yours truly, Dave Miller (MA), Steve LaPlante (CT) and Hez.
© Tim Tower Photo
I took the digital image below on August 3, 2019, the first riding day of the Pan-Mass. Challenge. I was riding with some of the team members best suited for my speed and way of riding the bike. The first day requirement on the ride is that every participant/rider has to wear the PMC's kit for that season. The riders who I enjoy riding with form a "train" where one leads and the other riders stay closely behind, drafting each other. It's a means of covering more ground, more quickly with less effort than if you did it alone. I took a few seconds to take a few pictures of the riders leading.
© Tim Tower Photo
On the second day, all the riders wear their club kits, team kits or kits they enjoy wearing on every day rides. The shot below shows me moving to the back after leading our group, all wearing the P4K team colors. This digital image was taken about ten miles from our destination on the Cape, Provincetown, Massachusetts. In the picture, I'm the closest one to the camera.
© Andy Carver Photo
A digital image of me out of the saddle during the second day of the ride, Sunday, August 4, 2019.
© PMC Photo
A digital image of me (left), Billy Starr (middle - the founder of the PMC, it's president & CEO) & Mike Parent (founder of the P4K team) taken on Sunday, August 4, 2019.
© Tim Tower Photo
I took this digital image on Sunday, August 4, 2019 as we were going down "the chute" in the last few yards before the finish of the 2019 PMC in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The picture shows P4K team members, Katie & Fred Stallings (sister & brother) holding hands in victory of another safe, enjoyable end to 2019's PMC ride.
© Tim Tower Photo
In order to make a donation, make a check out to Pan-Massachusetts Challenge/Jimmy Fund and send it to me, Tim Tower (PMC), at P.O. Box 837, Ogunquit, Maine 03907. Or you can make a donation electronically with your credit card by going to my profile page on the PMC site and click on the "Donate to My Ride" blue button. Follow the instructions from there. For more information,
contact Tim:
207-646-2214
sowhake@gmail.com
| DATE of CHECK |
DONOR |
ORGANIZATION |
STATE |
DONATION |
| 1.) 01-01-25 |
Meg Tower |
"For all you do, Tim; In loving memory of Ian Keniston." |
ME |
$2000 |
| 2.) 01-02-25 |
Joe & Paula Amato |
Personal - "eGift" - "Thanks for riding for those who are [fighting] and have fought cancer." |
NH |
$250 |
| 3.) 01-02-25 |
William Devon |
Personal |
VT |
$100 |
| 4.) 01-02-25 |
Mary Ann Donovan & Gary Vincze |
Personal - "In memory of Ian Keniston" |
CT |
$50 |
| 5.) 01-04-25 |
Stephen Clark |
Personal - "In memory of Ian Keniston" |
VT |
$200 |
| 6.) 01-10-25 |
Don, Lisa & Bethanie Johnson |
Personal - "In memory of Ian Keniston" |
MA |
$100 |
| 7.) 01-15-25 |
Edson Setzer |
Personal - Venmo - "In memory of Ian Keniston" |
MA |
$100 |
| 7.) 01-16-25 |
Fred Kunz/Jim Feeney |
Personal - "eGift" - "In memory of Ian Keniston" |
NH/MA |
$200 |
| 1-17-25 |
>>>>>>> |
Total to Date |
>>>>>>> |
$3,000 |
