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Georgetown police officer to bike 190 miles to help fight cancer
Posted Jul 30, 2010 @ 08:14 AM
Georgetown — Seven years ago, shortly after his six-month-old daughter, Julia, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, Georgetown Police Officer Derek Jones was at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute when he saw signs for the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, an annual bike-a-thon that raises money for Dana-Farber and The Jimmy Fund.
“I decided right then and there that I was going to do it,” Jones said. “I thought it was the least I could do.”
Jones explained that Julia underwent surgery to remove a golf-ball-sized tumor from her chest cavity. She also needed months of physical therapy because the tumor had been pressing on nerves along her spinal column, but she is now a healthy 7-year-old.
Before Jones could follow through on his promise to participate in the Pan-Mass Challenge, he needed time to train. By 2007 he was ready to join the bike-a-thon for the first time, and now, he’s preparing to ride in the fundraiser for the fourth consecutive summer.
How to help
This summer, Jones set a goal of raising $5,000. He explained that 100 percent of donations go directly to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund Clinic.
The Pan-Mass Challenge will be held Aug. 7 and 8, and donations can be made through Oct. 1. To make a donation, you can visit Officer Jones’ Pan-Mass Challenge profile page at pmc.org/profile/DJ0040. (Or go to pmc.org and search for Derek Jones.) You can also send a check payable to the “PMC-Jimmy
Fund” to the Georgetown Police Department, ATTN: Derek Jones, 47 Central St., Georgetown, MA 01833.
For the full story on Derek Jones and the Pan-Mass Challenge, see the July 29 issue of the Georgetown Record.
 
This article originally appeared in the Georgetown Record
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