In 2010, at the age of 19, Rutland’s Amy Belli was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a type of cancer that has a high percentage of recurrence. She would go through intense chemotherapy and radiation for two, two-month rounds. Then she found that she would be given a better chance at life thanks to a stem cell transplant from her brother Matt. It would be another year before Belli thought of herself as “normal” again.

“It was a shock to me, an otherwise heathy college sophomore, but I am very grateful to Dana-Farber that my cancer was treatable,” Belli says. “The nurses there inspired me to go to nursing school and now I work with kids who have cancer at UMass Medical Center in Worcester.”

In addition to the nurses at Dana Farber, Belli had an incredible support system in the form of her parents, family, boyfriend (who is now her husband), and friends.

Amy and Rick after pedaling 85 miles in the 2025 Pan Mass Challenge. Photo submitted.

 In 2014, Belli got on her bike and took part in her first Pan Mass Challenge (PMC), an 80-mile trek from Bourne to Wellesley. Every summer, PMC participants raise funds to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Rutland native was inspired by not only the ride and seeing all the riders around her, but also by the feeling of empowerment that gave her after everything her body had gone through. She rode the Pan Mass Challenge again in 2015. 

Over the last ten years Belli has worked nights at the hospital and has found it difficult to find time to train for extended distances. She also had two children during this time. But following the birth of her baby in October 2024, she set a goal of getting back on her bike to ride the PMC in 2025. 

“I wanted to ride the PMC one more time with my dad before his surgery in the fall,” she says. Her father Rick Lane has been riding the event every year since her first ride in 2014.

“It is also my 15-year anniversary of my stem cell transplant,” Belli continues, “which is also called my Rebirth Day, and I feel 15 years have been long enough.”

Belli feels that because of Dana-Farber, she is here and healthy enough to be able to train for an 85-mile bike ride, while many others are not as lucky. Having not been on a bike for ten years was initially tough, but Belli found that training with her dad got her through the hard times.

“I was very excited about that first ride again with my dad. At the end I felt very accomplished while very tired as well,” Belli says. “There was one point about halfway through our ride when we were going up a tough hill and I said to myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ But that’s as far as it went.”

Belli and her dad both completed the one-day, 85-mile 2025 PMC from Wellesley to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne the first weekend in August. It was a day that gave them perfect weather and brought back so many old memories - as well as created new ones.

“It had been over a decade since I last rode the PMC and there was definitely a lot more people riding bikes as well as those along the route,” she says. “It was unbelievable, but really helpful along the way.”

Having not ridden this length in some years, Belli’s knees started to hurt as she got close to the end of the ride. Although she was in pain, the cheering coming from the crowds encouraged her to continue. 

This was Lane’s twelfth PMC and ninth straight since 2017. While he is unsure if he will be able to get on his bike next August, his daughter is very optimistic that he will.

“I would not be here today if it were not for the doctors and researchers at Dana-Farber,” Belli says. “I also want to show my kids that they can do anything they set their minds to, and this is why I decided to do the Pan Mass Challenge again this year.”