SALEM, N.H. — Shawn Mullen has embarked on a personal mission because of cancer.
The disease claimed the life of his good friend Tina Vitale last January.
Mullen's father, Bob, 74, of Seabrook survived prostate cancer after successful surgery in 2008. His college roommate's mother is fighting her second battle with the disease.
"You keep your hopes high because they start getting better," said Mullen, 42, of Methuen.
"But the hard thing about cancer is that you get good news, then things don't work out," he said.
To honor all their struggles and raise money for cancer research, Mullen will hit the road in a spin-a-thon today from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Workout Club and Wellness Center on Pelham Road.
The 81-mile spin-a-thon is a practice run for the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, in which Mullen will ride with the Boston Bruins. He was invited to join them after meeting former Bruins player Robert Sweeney and striking up a conversation about cycling and cancer.
The Pan-Mass Challenge takes place Aug. 7 and 8 with 5,200 bicyclists riding 190 miles through 46 Massachusetts communities. Donations will go to the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Mullen vows to dye his hair blond and have a Bruins logo on the back if he tops his goal of $6,000.
"It's a heart-wrenching experience," Mullen said of the people he's met. They include parents who wore T-shirts bearing their children's photo on the back, a boy holding a sign that read, "I'm 8 years old because of you," and a 100-year-old woman who survived cancer and sits at one of the water stops because she has never forgotten the support she received.
Mullen, managing partner of the Salem law office of Mullen-McGourty, began spinning in 2009 and got hooked on it because of the music and its benefit to the heart. He even got his wife, Lisa, involved. They've been married 15 years and have two children, Sadie, 8, and Connor, 9.
Mullen said his inspirations are his father and late friend Vitale, who is survived by her husband, John, and sons Zachary and Jason of Andover.
He said Vitale was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. She received traditional treatment in the United States and non-traditional procedures that included hypothermia and starving the body of all sugars.
To support Shawn Mullen in the Pan-Mass Challenge, log on to www.firstgiving.com/shawnmullen.
"With Tina, we were so encouraged so many times and she was so positive about the whole thing, then she took a bad turn," he said.
Mullen recalled Vitale also used humor to handle her cancer. While in Mexico for treatment, she set up a Web page called "Tijuana News" with photographs and anecdotes.
"She had such a great attitude about it and it was like she wanted to make everyone feel better," he said.
