Weston's Samantha Burns, 8, Honored as Pedal Partner

The following information was submitted by Pan-Massachusetts Challenge:

On Tuesday, July 10, Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC) Pedal Partner Samantha Burns, 8, of Weston, attended a luncheon hosted by MFS Investment Management that was held in her honor.

Burns sat with Emily Roberge, 9, of Wayland, daughter of MFS President Mike Roberge. Burns is the PMC Pedal Partner who has been matched with Team MFS, a group of more than 50 MFS employees who will ride the 33rd PMC in her honor.

Burns was diagnosed with leukemia in 2011 and is being treated in Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic. On May 19, she attended the PMC Pedal Partner Party in which 70 pediatric cancer patients and their families met the teams of PMC cyclists to ride in this summer’s PMC on their behalf. On June 9, Burns served as honorary bat girl for the Boston Red Sox during PMC Day at Fenway Park.

The PMC Pedal Partner program, now in its 12th year, matches pediatric cancer patients with teams of PMC cyclists. This will be Team MFS’ 14th year riding in the PMC. On August 4 and 5, MFS employees will be among 5,500 cyclists who will ride with the collective goal of raising $36 million to support adult and pediatric cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Jimmy Fund. To date, the company has contributed $6.6 million to the PMC and Dana-Farber. MFS offers a matching gifts program for its employees and the company sponsors the PMC hub site at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Read of a butterfly bag she created that helped raise money for cancer research.