It’s highly likely every one of the 140 guests who attended the American Cancer Society Hope Gala last Saturday evening at the Oak Harbor Club has either had cancer or knows someone who has fought the debilitating disease. And often their lives have intersected, as was the case with honorary chairs Dr. Bill and Laura McGarry and the Call to the Heart speaker, Kristen Tripson.
Diagnosed with cancer at just 17 years old, Bill McGarry credits his survival and the decision to become an oncologist to the support he received from the American Cancer Society during those frightening days. About 20 years, a marriage and three children later, McGarry was diagnosed with cancer once again. Then, just as he was finishing his treatment plan, Laura was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“People don’t realize that the ACS is the largest non-government sponsored, not-for-profit provider of research in the United States in cancer care. Since it was founded in 1946, the research arm has provided over $4.5 billion worth of cancer research dollars, sponsored 47 Nobel Prize winners and accrued $46 million worth of research last year,” Dr. McGarry explained.
“Unfortunately, even though we are winning the war on cancer we’re losing way too many of the battles,” he added, before introducing Kristen Tripson, the wife of one of his former patients, Sam Tripson. The Vero Beach native and a great-grandson of Waldo Sexton, Sam was one of the 595,690 Americans who die of cancer each year, according to the ACS.
Kristen shared the story of their heartbreaking journey as Sam battled the disease before ultimately succumbing to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
And though he is gone now she said, “I am still here and I will never stop speaking for him and telling his story because there is so much left to do. So much research to conduct, so many more families who will need help and soon, maybe the next young dad who is handed a diagnosis like Sam’s will make it to his daughter’s 10th birthday. And maybe the dad after that gets to walk her down the aisle and then maybe one day, just maybe, cancer truly won’t be much more than a bump in the road. This is why I will continue supporting the American Cancer Society and why I continue putting one foot in front of the other moving forward but never moving on.”
Earlier in the evening guests enjoyed cocktails while listening to the music of No Strings Attached, a Vero Beach High School Orchestra Quartet, and perused more than 40 silent-auction items. After dinner, emcee John Moore used his considerable charm to solicit bids for such unusual items as a ride in a Triton submersible and a PonTiki Cruise.
Mr. Motown brought the festivities to a close with live music and dancing in celebration of the progress made and an affirmation of hope that cancer will be relegated to a footnote in the annals of history.
Upcoming Indian River County Relay for Life events: April 7, North Indian River at Sebastian River High School; April 21, Indian River at Vero Beach High School; and April 29, Beaches at Riverside Park.
