More than 250 people answered the call to raise funds to improve the lives of individuals affected by cancer at the Answer to Cancer Golf Tournament and Fundraising Dinner at the Grand Harbor Golf Club.
Additional activities were added this year, including a 2K Walk/Run along the back of the newly reopened River Course. There was also a pre-golf Carnival, complete with a dunk tank, a wine pull and the sale of oyster ornaments made by committee members.
“Just seeing the outpouring of support from the members of Grand Harbor was really, really heartwarming,” said event chair Jeanine Nestor, thanking the committee, volunteers and sponsors, who helped make the event successful.
Answer to Cancer was co-founded 15 years ago by Carole Plante and the late Don Casey.
His wife, Carole Casey, chaired many years until passing the torch to Nestor this year.
“All of the money goes directly to the Scully Welsh Cancer Center,” said Nestor, explaining the committee meets with Dr. Eleni Anastasia Tousimis, Cancer Center medical director, and her team to determine which specific programs and projects they wish to support.
“We’ve raised more than $1 million to date, and we are going to continue doing so,” said Nestor, pointing out she didn’t imagine there was anyone in the room who hadn’t been affected by cancer in one way or another. “We’re here for the patients and their families.”
She said this year’s fundraising would go toward a few projects.
“One of them is a food cart. When people go in for infusions, there is no food at the Cancer Center,” said Nestor, noting that this will give them much-needed access to nutritious foods.
Handheld ultrasound devices are also being funded, enabling doctors to do an ultrasound and get results then and there, without the patient having to wait to go elsewhere. They will also fund the Integrative Medicine program, which combines alternative and conventional medicines.
The guest speaker was Dr. Andrew Salzberg, a plastic surgeon at the Cancer Center, who previously was chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Mount Sinai Hospital System.
In 2001, Salzberg pioneered the Direct to Implant or “one-step” breast reconstruction which replaced the traditional tissue expander method, and he has since reconstructed more than 1,500 breasts.
“The projects that you heard about are near and dear to our hearts,” said Salzberg, noting that he utilizes the project funded last year, a 3-dimensional camera that can simulate how a patient will look after surgery.
“I truly appreciate everything you’re doing here. It’s an amazing event,” said Salzberg.
Other projects funded over the years include DigniCaps, which cool hair follicles to help chemo patients keep their hair; the Oncology Nurse Navigation Program, which assists patients and families to better interface with physicians throughout the complicated cancer process; AccuVein technology, to enable accurate venipuncture for chemotherapy patients; and computers for mobile units.
Photos by Mary Schenkel and Joshua Kodis
