Donors make a difference

对癌症的合作之旅，夫妇专门路径他人更容易

Since his diagnosis in October 2009 of inoperablelung cancer, Ron Stading has sent weekly e-mails sharing medical updates, memories and inspirational musings with many friends, family and associates. The online journal helps Stading, a nonsmoker who has otherwise enjoyed good health throughout his 63 years, deal with the physical and emotional challenges of adenocarcinoma, a type of non-small cell lung cancer. It also provides hope and inspiration for readers or their loved ones on their own cancer journeys.

Borrowing a popular anonymous quote, he writes in an early post: Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.

The words have become a mantra for Stading and his wife, Tycha, who was diagnosed in 2007 with advancedbreast cancer。Inspired by the care and expertise they’ve collectively received over the past three years, the couple has made a generous commitment to support lung cancer and breast cancer research atMD Anderson。

“We love everything aboutMD Anderson,” says Tycha, a retired teacher. “We wish we could give more.”

Supporting the work of their doctors,Daniel J. Booser, M.D.在教授Department of Breast Medical Oncology和爱德华S.金，医学博士，副教授在MD Anderson’s胸/头颈部肿瘤医学系, the Stadings want to help other patients by funding efforts in personalized cancer therapy that can have a direct, immediate benefit.

One focus of the Stadings’ gift is the purchase of a gene sequencer dedicated to identifying molecular markers in the tumors of lung cancer patients. Armed with this information, Kim and colleagues can plan personalized therapies that target these markers for greater efficacy. The Stadings’ purchase will provide immediate help for hundreds of patients.

“The Stadings’ generosity has allowed our research in lung cancer to go to the next level in personalized cancer care,” says Kim, principal investigator for an innovative set of clinical trials called BATTLE (Biomarker-integrated Approaches of Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer Elimination). “The research generated from this technology will facilitate collaborations that will help us fight the BATTLE against lung cancer. It’s truly a game changer for us.”

The couple also plans to fund similar equipment for the Department of Breast Medical Oncology that will help clinicians individualize and customize therapies for breast cancer patients. Impressed by the care his wife had received atMD Anderson, Stading joinedMD Anderson’s咨询委员会，参观大学癌症基金会理事会（BOV），2009年9月他接受了他的诊断10月14日的两个星期后，BOV的在年会期间MD Anderson, Stading looked past his shock to seize an opportunity.

“It’s good to know that not only are our gifts helping other lung cancer and breast cancer patients right now, but also thatMD Andersoncan leverage our dollars as seed money toward large research grants with lasting, long-term potential,” he says.

Life is like an echo, reads another e-mail post from Stading. What you send out comes back to you.

Cancer Survivor and Wife Say ‘Thanks a Million’ to Oncology Team

Pharmaceutical consultant Charles Stiefel says he owes his life toMD Anderson。在感谢照顾他收为鳞状细胞癌和thyroid cancerpatient, Stiefel and his wife, Daneen, have pledged $1 million to establish the Charles and Daneen Stiefel Chair inCancer Research。

The gift is a tribute to Stiefel’s medical oncologist, Merrill S. Kies, M.D., professor in the胸/头颈部肿瘤医学系; hisradiationoncologist,David I. Rosenthal, M.D., section chief, Head and Neck, Division of Radiation Oncology; and his surgeon,Randal S. Weber, M.D., chair of the头颈外科, “I wanted to honor and thank them, and to give back toMD Anderson,” says Stiefel, 59. “We’re the ones who received the gift. Those three amazing doctors saved my life.”

Diagnosed in Miami in 2006 with a squamous cell carcinoma at the base of his tongue, Stiefel sought care atMD Andersonafter a physician friend insisted it was his best option. “We instantly fell in love with the institution,” he says. “It’s warm and inviting, and everyone we met was wonderful. My doctors went above and beyond the call of duty.”

Though life is good now, it wasn’t always easy along the road to recovery viaradiation,chemotherapyandsurgeryatMD Anderson, says Daneen.

“Charles hit every speed bump possible,” she says.

Certainly not the least of those was the detection ofthyroid cancer在什么夫妇的想法是他最后的检查。超声透露，虽然癌似乎消失了，有他的乳头状甲状腺肿瘤。癌症是通过手术消除。

“幸运的是，这是最容易治疗的甲状腺癌”的Stiefel，Stiefel的实验室，一个制药公司，专门从事皮肤科产品的前主席兼首席执行官说。该公司曾在他家六代，直到它在2009年7月出售给葛兰素史克。

Now living in semi-retirement in their new home in Raleigh, N.C., the Stiefels celebrated Charles’ third cancer-free anniversary in April.

“人生是完美的，”丹宁，谁喜欢和丈夫前往，并花时间与他们的两个孩子和四个孙子说。“没有Kies的博士，罗森塔尔博士和Weber博士，我的丈夫就不会在这里。我们家是很感激对他们的同情，关心和爱护“。

柚木林场挂果，在计划礼品

They say money doesn’t grow on trees. A couple of years ago one smart investor found a creative way to prove the old adage wrong.

Retired Exxon geophysicist Lewis A. Lester, of Houston, established a charitable gift annuity with proceeds from the sale of a teak tree farm in Costa Rica. Through his will, he’s directed the principal to fundchronic lymphocytic leukemia乐动体育LDsports中国atMD Andersonunder the direction of迈克尔·基廷，M​​.B.，学士学位教授在Department of Leukemia。

A charitable gift annuity, which can be made to the institution in cash or stock, offers the donor an income tax deduction and fixed payments, partly tax-free, for life.

莱斯特设置一个nuity to honor the memory of his wife, Diana, anMD Andersonpatient who died in 2005 of mesothelioma, and to help improve outcomes for future patients.

基廷成为戴安娜的肿瘤科医生时，她的leukemiapresented three years after her first diagnosis in 1968, ofovarian cancer, also treated atMD Anderson。

“My wife and I discussed the importance of supporting research at the institution,” says Lester. “Through the charitable gift annuity, I can do just that.”

莱斯特，一个melanomasurvivor, says a brochure he read in anMD Andersonwaiting room armed him with lifesaving information.

Thanks to early detection and prompt surgery byFrederick C. Ames, M.D., clinical professor of surgical oncology, Lester is cancer-free.

Lester’s 33-year career with Exxon took him from Venezuela to Argentina, where he met Diana, to Colorado, where they were married. From Colorado the couple moved to Libya and later settled in Lester's home state of Texas.

After retiring, the Lesters traveled extensively, with Houston as their base. During a visit to Costa Rica, Lester happened upon a presentation designed to interest locals in reforestation. Intrigued, the couple made some inquiries and soon found themselves the proud owners of 15 acres near Hojancha, in the province of Guanacaste.

Thus Lester became a tree farmer who never planted a tree. That job went to a nurseryman who nurtured the tender teak seedlings through a devastating drought. Eventually, the rains came, and the trees grew tall and straight, suitable for lumber. The endeavor lasted 17 years until Lester sold the property to the nurseryman’s son.

“Our family has been touched many times by cancer,” says Lester, who counts 13 cancer occurrences among 11 family members, including his parents. “Through the charitable gift annuity, I hope Dr. Keating and his colleagues can find better and faster ways of treating, and hopefully, curing leukemia.”

癌症证明没有竞争马球运动员

Brendan Fikes is an avid race car driver, inspired polo player and competitive business owner. He focuses on success. One competitor Fikes never imagined he would face, however, was cancer. That all changed in 2005.

“A few years ago, the left side of my neck began to swell,” says Fikes, of Midland. A friend, who is an orthopedic surgeon, recommended Fikes have the lump examined by an otolaryngologist. He followed that advice and was told it looked like cancer. At the encouragement of his friend Melinda Musselman, whom he’d met through his involvement withPolo on the Prairie, anMD Andersonfundraiser she and her family started more than 20 years ago, Fikes made an appointment atMD Anderson。

他被诊断为何杰金氏淋巴瘤, a type of cancer that typically manifests in the lymph nodes. With the help of an oncology team led by Larry W. Kwak, M.D., Ph.D., chair ofMD Anderson’sDepartment of淋巴瘤或骨髓瘤, Fikes faced this new challenge and completed his treatments in November 2005. Committed to following his family’s tradition of philanthropic support for medical research, he made a substantial donation to Hodgkin’s lymphoma research atMD Anderson。He’s also donated to the儿童艺术工程, the institution’s Annual Fund and Polo on the Prairie.

“An unfortunate fact of life is that a lot of people are going to get cancer,” says Fikes. “But withMD Anderson在你身后，你真的站通过它的生活和回事看到很多夕阳西下的机会。”

Fikes recently joined the Advance Team, an advisory board launched in 2001 to enhance the institution’s commitment to excellence and future growth.

And as for the Musselmans? Fikes now refers to them as his in-laws. He married their daughter, Louisa, in July 2009.