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Dear Friends,
“On April 8th the Taylor family ate cake for breakfast in celebration of Alex’s 4th year of recovery from his brain tumor. Some pieces of the cake were shared with people the kids recognized as special friends in this experience. For others, we wrote messages of thanks on four yellow balloons and released them into the early morning sky in recognition of all who have helped us on this journey.” Six years ago I wrote those words in my fundraising letter for the first Granite State Quest – A ride to conquer cancer. While we did not eat cake for breakfast this past April 8th, the day did not pass without us acknowledging and celebrating that ten years had past from when Alex was diagnosed with cancer.
A year does not need to pass for us to realize how fortunate and thankful we are for the wonderful care Alex received at MassGeneral and the tremendous amount of support we received from people like you. To be honest, I don’t think a day passes without having those thoughts. Those thoughts were the reason why six years ago some Timberland friends and I founded the Granite State Quest and it will be those thoughts that will continue to make the GSQ an annual event. Thanks to the generous support from so many people, the GSQ has raised over $580,000 with 100% of those funds going directly to pediatric cancer research and patient care at the Massachusetts GeneralHospital for Children.
This year’s ride will take place on Saturday, July 11th and it looks as if it will be the largest event thus far, as 55 committed individuals have registered to ride 50 or 100 miles throughout southern New Hampshire. Many of the riders are repeat riders with some having participated in all of the previous six years. But as with previous years, it is rewarding to see new people ride, as one of the goals of the GSQ is to provide the opportunity for individuals and families to directly participate in the quest to conquer cancer. One of our new riders is a local 17 year old girl who wants to ride to help make a difference. Another new rider is the dad of a young patient being treated at MGH by the same doctors who treated Alex. And those same doctors will be riding in the GSQ once again this year.
There are many well deserving causes asking for donations and we are thankful and most appreciative of any donation you can make to the GSQ. Checks can be made out to MGH – The Granite State Quest or you can make an on-line donation by logging on to www.firstgiving.com/brucetaylor
I can’t conclude this letter without mentioning another milestone, as on June 12th Alex graduated from ExeterHigh School! We are all extremely proud of him and thanks to his hard work along with the academic support he has received; Alex will be heading off to MitchellCollege in New London, CT this coming September- Wow.
Wishing you and your family good health and joy,
Bruce
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