I Was There When…
Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to know when something historic is about to happen. When I heard that there was going to be a formal dedication of the PMC Plaza at the Dana-Farber Cancer Insitute’s new building, I had to be there.
Think about it: Dana-Farber-the place where chemotherapy was invented-hasn’t opened a new clinical building in 36 years. At that rate, it’s an incredibly rare honor to have the building’s main entrance named for your organization. It is a very concrete, tangible method of recognizing how important the Pan-Mass Challenge is to the Dana-Farber’s mission of curing and eradicating cancer.
Full Photoset
Leading up to the dedication, details were difficult to come by. I knew the date, and was tipped off to the time earlier that day. Although I hadn’t planned it out, I left work early so that I could swing by my place and grab my camera.
I wasn’t even sure the event was going to happen. Most of New England was under a thunderstorm and tornado watch. The sky was ashen, with a fierce wind blowing debris around the streets of Boston. As I descended the stairs to catch the subway from Copley to Longwood, a deafening thunderclap rattled the headhouse and the lights flickered. If the ceremony hadn’t been canceled, at least there’d be a dramatic backdrop for it!
Arriving at Longwood, I saw that the celebrants were gathering inside the lobby of the new Yawkey Center for Cancer Care building. Uninvited and underdressed, I pulled my camera out and made like I was supposed to be there. I later learned that due to space constraints, only 20-year-plus PMC riders had been invited, due to space constraints. But no one challenged the guy behind the camera, a mere 10-year rider, and I wasn’t about to let such a historic moment pass me by. My one nod to propriety was that at least I didn’t eat any of the hors d’oeuvres!
So I played photographer, and got a few good pictures out of the deal. I even got a bit of photographer-level access to the bigwigs, which amused me.
The sense of being on observer of history was reinforced during the speechifying. This recognition was arguably the most important moment in the entire history of the Pan-Mass Challenge, and it was a moment of deepest pride for me, standing there in a new building that the PMC’s donation was the lead gift for. In his remarks, Dana-Farber president Dr. Ed Benz articulated for the first time the astounding next milestone in the PMC’s fundraising road: a third of a billion dollars.
I won’t say much about the plaza itself. There are three granite planters/benches with “Pan-Mass Challenge Plaza” engraved that separate it from Brookline Avenue. There are dozens of granite pavers in a long line, each one representing one of the towns that the PMC route passes through. There’s two standing arcs of granite that comprise a sculpture called “Tandem”. And a plaque, which reads:
PMC PLAZA
This plaza is dedicated to the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC): to its cyclists, volunteers, and donors whose life-affirming efforts through the decades have provided critical support for cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Tandem is a tribute to the indelible bond between the PMC and Dana-Farber and reflects the extraordinary impact when two vital organizations work in tandem.
Yeah. Being part of an organization with that kind of power to do good: that’s something to take pride in. And as the inscription says, it’s not just about the riders. It’s the partnership between the riders, the thousands of volunteers, and a quarter million people a year like you who sponsor riders. And that’s just the PMC’s side of its partnership with Dana-Farber, its doctors and researchers, support staff, and cancer patients and their families.
I’m deeply proud to be one part of that extended family.