Pictures Of Children Battling Cancer Along Route Motivate PMC Riders
LAKEVILLE (CBS) – They're known as "Pedal Partners": kids battling cancer who inspire those who ride the Pan-Mass Challenge.
It's motivational for anyone to ride by three miles of sweet, innocent faces – but when it's your own kid, it means so much more.
"Emma was the first picture," explained Erica Murphy, of Easton. "Those are hard for me to see – three miles of kids is a lot. But that just makes it that more important - the work we're doing here."
Murphy's 9-year-old daughter Emma was diagnosed with a Wilms Tumor at just 6 years old. She's been out of treatment for two years now and rides in the PMC Kids' Rides. She once wrote a school project about how she wants to cure cancer someday.
"Emma is incredibly feisty. She's incredibly brave," Murphy said as she fought back tears. "She's given a whole new face to this for so many of us because when she was diagnosed, it wasn't just my husband and I going through this – it was every neighbor, every family member we had that really got us through this."
Murphy has ridden the PMC for two years as a member of "Team Jake." This year she raised more than $20,000.