July 22, 2008 Troopers take stand against cancer in PMC Play video

(Greg Wayland, NECN) - Meet Shannon Grenham. Five-year-old daughter of Mass state police captain Tom Grenham and his wife retired state trooper rosemary.

A week before her third birthday, Shannon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, known as ALL.

TOM "You don't know. You think you may know, but you don't know until your child -- until you hear that your child has cancer, what that does to you."

But Rosemary says advances in cancer treatment have helped save Shannon's life.

ROSEMARY "In the seventies, ALL, you know, the chances of survival were nil to none, and now there's an eighty-five to ninety per cent chance of survival for children, so the money going to cancer research has definitely come a long way."

That's one big reason Tom Grenham rode the pan mass challenge last year.

CAPTAIN TOM GRENHAM "I think since Shannon was diagnosed with leukemia, it's kind of my way of giving back. Seeing how riding the PMC and the money they generate for the Jimmy Fund helps raise funds to treat both the illness through medicine, but also to treat the mind through activities."

And here comes a new Pan Mass entry for this year -- the Mass State Police bike team, going by the name, Team Trooper Tested. And it was little Shannon Grenham who got them together.

Tom Grehham was wearing a picture of Shannon on his back as he rode the Pan Mass Challenge last year. Shannon was his peddle-partner. Somewhere down around

CAPT GRENHAM And another trooper happened to ride up next to me, Tom Mahon and he said, hi, how are you? You know, I've heard about your daughter. And we rode for quite a while together, discussing how great it would be get a state police team involved.

TROOPER MAHON People would always come up to me and say, where's the state police? Where"s the state police and my classmate Dan Herman. He and I always talked about it. And we thought we've got to get a state police team going.

There will be 38 troopers from every level of police work riding 192 miles. They'll be recognizable by their matching blue jerseys, shorts and helmets and the mass state police patch -- and they all have strong motives for fighting cancer. Like Sgt. Mary McCauley.

It's my opportunity to give back for all the doctors and the nurses and the care that I received at the Dana Farber when I had two rounds of breast cancer. So it's a great opportunity for me to give back.

OR TROOPER BILL CHRISTIANSON. I'm doing it for my sister Holly. She died last September. OR TROOPER KATY DOWNEY. I'm doing this in honor of my Dad, who was a lieutenant with the Lynn Police Department. He died about four years ago from a rare form of lung cancer. Trooper Mahon lost his mother to cancer.

Simply the PMC is the best place to take an awesome stand against an awful disease that's taken way too much for all of us.

Meanwhile, Shannon is done with chemotherapy and her leukemia is in remission.

TOM GRENHAM But it will be lifelong follow-up. It goes from every four weeks to every three months, six months, then, it never goes to more than a yearly follow-up.

ROSEMARY Shannon has been an inspiration to a lot of people around us. She's some a long way in two and a half years. And it's helped other people get through some bad times.

An old back injury has flared up on Tom Grenham, forcing him to sit out this year's ride. But he'll have thirty-eight troopers riding for him -- and Shannon wants to join them next year.

Tell em what your goal is? What do you want to do? -- I want to ride the little kids PMC. Meanwhile, she'll be waiting at the finish line to bestow her characteristic wink and thumbs up. She's been practicing. .

Can you give them a wink and a thumbs up? Give them a wink and a thumbs up. No, thumbs up! Good job! GOOD JOB, INDEED. GREG WAYLAND, NECN.