For years, Maureen Mullen of Rochester has cheered riders in the Pan Mass Challenge bike-a-thon for cancer research as they passed on High Street near her home.

Next month, she will participate in the ride for the first time.

Mullen and another rider have teamed up to hold a benefit fundraiser July 25 featuring comedic hypnotist Frank Santos. Money raised will help Mullen reach her goal of $4,300, the minimum donation needed to race.

Joining Mullen is author Ken Brack of Plympton, who recently published a book on the event, “Closer By The Mile.”

The comedy show will raise funds for Mullen, who recently lost her father-in-law to brain cancer in 2012.

Mullen and her family cared for her father-in-law for a week before he died and prompted her to ride.

“It was a week full of emotion. There were ups and downs, highs and lows, comical things, sad things,” Mullen said. “It opened up old memories of my family’s past and that’s what made me say, ‘I’m really making a commitment.’”

The experience reminded her of her mother, who took in Mullen's grandmother when she fell ill. Mullen was 14 when her grandmother passed away. She said she is also riding in memory of an aunt and a cousin.

The fundraiser will be held at The Book Shack at the Independence Mall in Kingston, with book signings by Brack from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Santos’ performance at 8 p.m.

Tickets are available at www.LLPpresents.com or you can call the box office at 855-998-2324 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. General Admission tickets are available for $25.

The Book Shack is located at 101 Independence Mall Way in Kingston, Ma.

The Pan Mass Challenge, held in August, is the country’s most successful single-event athletic fundraiser. Since 1980, the challenge has raised $375 million for Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.