WORCESTER, Mass. - In this year’s Pan-Mass Challenge, nearly 7,000 riders came together to raise more than $50 million for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. For Worcester rider Andrew Keane, 2024 marked a big personal milestone.

“This is my 30th ride, and it also means I’m 30 years cancer-free,” Keane said.

Keane has racked up quite an impressive collection of PMC jerseys since his first ride, which he took on just months after undergoing treatment at Dana-Farber for stage III testicular cancer.

“Other than the cancer, I was an otherwise healthy, active young man and I had to stay in the hospital five days at a time,” Keane said. “Walking the halls, going up and down the stairs… I found a room with an exercise bike and I hopped on, would ride for an hour or two, and one of the nurses asked me ‘Oh, you like riding bikes? Have you heard about this thing called the Pan-Mass Challenge?”

Keane was particularly inspired to take on the PMC because his mother passed away from breast cancer when he was 10, and a few years later, his wife’s mother passed away from ovarian cancer.

Ever since getting on that bike 30 years ago, he’s never missed the Pan-Mass Challenge.

“I think back to that first year and just how much of an unknown it was,” Keane said. “There were about 1,000 riders back then, and now there are 6,000 riders. There’s so much support from the staff, the organization, the volunteers, people lining the streets cheering you on. Each person you go by along the day just gives you more energy and gets you another mile down the road.”

In the months leading up to this year’s Pan-Mass Challenge, Keane has been in the spotlight quite a bit. He joined other survivors for a pre-game ceremony at Fenway Park, and he also threw out the first pitch at a WooSox game.

These survivors who ride the PMC are part of a community called Living Proof, and every year Keane is proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder among them.

“It’s hundreds of people now,” Keane said. “They work really hard, they have to go up on a huge crane to get a wide enough shot to take a picture of all of us. The camaraderie of the whole thing, it’s amazing.”

In his 30 years riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge, Keane has helped raise nearly $150,000 for Dana-Farber.