Wellesley residents share their Pan-Mass Challenge ‘whys’

By Jason Glick

This past weekend’s annual Pan-Mass Challenge might be a tiring and difficult bike trip, but its riders are more focused on their “why.” The thousands of unique stories riders carry are all intertwined in an effort to defeat cancer and support research. At the center of this effort is the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

This year’s routes on Aug. 2 and 3 included Wellesley, Bourne, Sturbridge, and Provincetown among the starts and finishes. About 100 Wellesley residents took part as cyclists this year (see also, “Pan-Mass Challenge riders take off from Wellesley”)

Among the Wellesley cyclists was Andy Wagner, who actually works at Dana-Farber. He says, “It’s a tremendous event. It’s inspiring to those of us who work there. It reminds us why we ride and why we work; the things we do.”

Wagner sees the results in his daily life at work. “There are studies that we’ve run based on funds that have been raised from the PMC that usually are either laboratory studies or clinical studies,” he details. “These studies are early in their development where you need that initial funding source to create more data and to support bigger studies and different funding opportunities. These are things that otherwise wouldn’t get funded.”

The most touching part about the challenge is that everyone, in their own way, is affected by cancer. They may not have cancer themselves nor does one of their family members or friends. Even if they don’t, every participant knows someone who has been affected by it.

Wellesley’s Laura Olton is a two-time breast-cancer survivor, and one of her friends passed away from the disease. She’s seen the benefits of treatments such as herceptin, but is eager for more progress to be made.

“Not to tie it directly to Dana-Farber, but we need to continue to fund and study cancer because I feel like every day there’s a new diagnosis,” Olton says.

 
It’s common for riders to return year after year. Olton completed her 14th in 2025. For Wagner, the count is over 18. Another Wellesley resident, Jesse Boehm, did his 17th year, and this time, he rode virtually (not on the PMC courses during the formal event) in order to help his son with college admissions.

 
Boehm’s wife, Julie, was diagnosed with a rare tongue cancer when he was in graduate school. A trainee at Dana-Farber, he has worked for the Broad Institute for 15 years, and now he works at MIT and the Break Through Cancer foundation.

The PMC is an emotional ride for many, and the physical endurance required provides another challenge. Boehm says, “You know, you just get on your bike and you get going. You talk to people along the way, and before you know it, you know, it’s kind of done. It’s always exhausting and tiring but kind of exhilarating in that way.”

Jason Glick is a rising sophomore at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in the Broadcast and Digital Journalism major.