I have always been active. Cycling and skiing are a big part of who I am. In a typical winter, my family and I ski around 50 to 60 days a season. This year, that routine came to an abrupt end, and I went from feeling healthy to near death very quickly. Getting my diagnosis, well, that was not as hard as not knowing what I had; however, I will not sugarcoat it and say that getting a cancer diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma-the second most common blood cancer, was easy. Still today, I say to myself—how did this happen? Why did it manifest so quickly? So in those first weeks after diagnosis, some of my questions were not just about cancer treatments and survival. I wondered whether I would ride my bike or ski again. Looking to summer, whether I would be able to travel with my family again. Whether the future I had imagined was still there. Then treatment began… A weekly chemo cocktail of a steroid, protease inhibitor, a chemo infusion and an immunotherapy. Over the months that followed, my doctors watched the amount of disease in my body fall dramatically. My kidneys have been recovering, though they are still not in the best shape, and my blood counts have improved, although I am still very anemic. My most recent bone marrow biopsy found no detectable myeloma by conventional examination, and my scans have shown an extraordinary response to treatment. Slowly, the things I love started coming back too. I got back on my bike in April. First cautiously, and eventually riding for hours, aiming for 200 miles or more per week. This summer, my doctors cleared me to travel, and my family and I returned to Italy for a week. We explored Piemonte, visited Alba, wandered through small villages, hiked through the mountains into France, and swam in the Mediterranean. I thought travel was off the table for the foreseeable future, yet there I was with my family in a country I have come to love. Now I am looking forward to winter. My ski pass has already been purchased and If my health continues to cooperate, I hope to be back on the mountain this season, making up for some of the days multiple myeloma took away from me last season. I have some unfinished business at Pico Mountain and Killington Resort! And next summer, I have another goal; to return to Italy and finally ride those beautiful roads I spent this summer looking at. These may sound like simple things, like riding a bicycle, skiing down a mountain, traveling with your family—but cancer has a way of making you understand just how precious ordinary life really is. That is why I am walking. I am joining the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation® (MMRF®) Community Walk to stand shoulder-to-shoulder against multiple myeloma alongside my friend and fellow fighter, Bill Mchugh am helping Bill and his team raise money for the MMRF to fund vital research, support patients and families, and enable researchers to find lifesaving treatments to cure multiple myeloma. The walk takes place on October 17, 2026, here in NYC, and I hope you will support this cause. As a team, we hope to raise $100,000, and my personal goal is to raise $5,000 or more. I would be deeply grateful for your assistance with my fundraising. Details on how to donate can be found here: walk.themmrf.org/participant… It would also be wonderful if you could join me on the walk. Feel free to register with our team and walk alongside us—it would be great to have your company! walk.themmrf.org/teams/5622 Thank you and with love, Ray