BALLSTON LAKE, N.Y. -- A local mother and father will be among thousands of bicyclists next month participating in the 38th Pan-Mass Challenge in Massachusetts. The bike ride benefits cancer research and treatment.

Mary and Ben Carlin are riding for their 4-year-old daughter, Charlotte. She was having seizures last year and in January, doctors discovered she had a benign brain tumor.

Charlotte had surgery to get it removed, but she still has seizures.

Her parents say until she is 23 years old, she has a 60 percent chance of recurrence.

"There’s never anything that can prepare you for anybody to tell you that your child has a medical crisis," said Mary Carlin.

Two years prior to Charlotte's diagnosis, her mother Mary had breast cancer and had a double mastectomy.

Now, the Carlin family wants to help other families by raising awareness and money.

"We want to do more and that’s where the research comes in, is can we do anything else. It’s our daughter’s life, it’s thousands of kids who are diagnosed with brain tumors every single year and their parents have to go through the same thing or far worse," Mary Carlin said.

They are riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge as Team Charlotte and all of the money they raise will fund pediatric brain tumor research.

To donate to Team Charlotte, visit this website.