Last Saturday evening’s Polo with a Purpose Charity Ball at the Quail Valley River Club to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society was decidedly personal for many involved. It was personal for emcee Luke Webb, a member of the Indian River advisory council of the LLS Palm Beach chapter, diagnosed in 2007 with chronic myelogenous leukemia.
It was personal for event chair Patta Conboy, whose brother has battled the disease for more than 15 years; to the professional polo players in attendance, supporting Wellington player Brandon Phillips, diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 14; to the patients whose lives have been saved by event honorees Dr. Michaela Scott and Dr. Leonardo Mandina; and it was personal to the many other guests touched by cancer.
Funds raised at the inaugural event, hosted by BG Vero Beach Polo Club, will go toward lifesaving research efforts to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma and to improve the lives of patients and their families.
As arriving guests perused a selection of silent-auction items during the cocktail hour, they were amazed by slights-of-hand by “Magician to the Stars” Jeff Edmonds. Later, auctioneer Ron Rennick presided over a lively live auction. During a delightful dinner, and afterward for dancing, guests were entertained by the Bob Hardwick Sound Sensation Dance Orchestra.
“In our first year of this event, we thought it only fitting to honor two of our own; two physicians who make a huge impact on our community,” said Webb.
Dr. Mandina, a practicing family physician for 36 years, also has ties to the equestrian community as a breeder, with wife Maria, of magnificent Andalusians at their Hacienda del Sol Ranch in Vero Beach.
Mandina noted that family physicians often play a key role in diagnosing cancer, explaining, “It’s not unusual for someone to show up at the primary physician’s office with some nonspecific mild symptomatology perhaps, before a general physical. That would be a good time to run some basic blood tests that are absolutely essential to a diagnosis. So my message to you is go see your family doctor if you’re not feeling up to par, because it can be a life-saver for you.”
Dr. Scott has lived and practiced in Vero Beach since 1975, specializing in internal medicine, hematology and oncology.
“I’ve been practicing now for 42 years and I have to tell you, it has been a very exciting time in hematology and oncology,” said Scott, recalling the major breakthrough about 20 years ago of the drug Gleevec, which changes leukemia cells and puts patients into long-term remissions. “It absolutely revolutionized how we treat patients.”
She also spoke about DNA genome testing, funded by LLS, which can enable targeted treatments. Scott noted that since its founding in 1949, the LLS had funded more than $1 billion in research. It also assists under-insured patients to obtain often prohibitively expensive drugs.
“By your donations to this Leukemia Society, you enable us to be more generous to all patients and to do more research,” said Scott. “We have a lot more to do.”
Webb spoke about his experience, noting of the diagnosis, “To say it was a shock is an understatement.”
While there is no cure, his cancer has been kept in remission for 10 years through a simple course of treatment – one Gleevec pill each day.
“Because of funding by donations from events like this, LLS is on the cutting edge of cancer treatments,” said Webb. “They’re the single largest corporation dedicated to blood cancers, but what’s unique about blood cancers is that they happen to correlate very strongly with other cancers that are out there. So a lot of the therapies that have been developed, that were funded by LLS research, have actually gone on to treat and cure other cancers as well. And that’s why this is so important.”
