April 4, 2012 (Atlanta, GA) – Former NFL Linebacker Chris Draft and Founder of the Chris Draft Family Foundation will be honored tonight at the 33rd Annual Drum Major for Justice Awards Dinner in downtown Atlanta on in recognition of the Foundation’s health awareness efforts.
The awards ceremony, the signature event of the SCLC/W.O.M.E.N. Inc., is held annually on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination to mark the passing of one of the world’s great leaders, and to inspire others to carry on Dr. King’s spirit and legacy through service and leadership. The awards ceremony recognizes individuals and organizations who are accomplished barrier-breaking servant leaders – present day “Drum Majors” – who embody and perpetuate Dr. King’s legacy and spirit. This year’s honorees include Samuel L. Jackson, Sean Penn, and Al Sharpton.
I lost my Dad, Philip Lefebvre, to Small Cell Lung Cancer(SCLC) on 8/14/11. He was diagnosed 2/14/11. Loosing my Dad to this terrible disease has rocked me to the very core. I now spend my days devoted to bringing more awareness to Lung Cancer, trying to honor his memory.I was Dad’s sole caregiver. The chemo, the radiation, blood transfusions, surgeries, endless stays in the hospital. 800 mile drive home to say goodbye to his 85 yr. old Mom. We never gave up hope, even till the very end. Dad & I were a team, a cancer fighting, tear wiping, joke telling, turtle loving team. Now, now I’m a team of one, continuing to fight in his honor.on Dad’s 1st day of radiation as they wheeled him down the hall, he looked up at me and said “We’re off ….like a herd of turtles!” The turtle became our symbol of hope, strength & courage throughout this journey. It still does to this day. Whenever I need abit, I grab one of Dad’s turtles and give it a hug …then I continue on this journey!
Paul S. Falkowski is enthusiastically involved with the Integrated Health program at Medical University of South Carolina’s (MUSC) Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston, SC. He stresses that this program addresses the “look and feel good” part of going through cancer treatment. External image, how we feel about ourselves, is an extremely important part of our self-esteem. Many times cancer patients lose sight of this while they undergo treatment. MUSC Hollings Cancer Center is there to address these intrinsic needs. Falkowski states that simple things like prosthetics, wigs, and massage therapy can make a world of difference to patients. Feeling good about yourself and adopting a healthy lifestyle is part of a multidisciplinary approach to change the face of cancer.
Team Draft was founded by Chris Draft, former NFL player, and his wife, Keasha, whose life was sadly cut short by lung cancer in December 2011. Their goal was to inspire patients to hope and to provide them with information on the multitude of programs available to help them in their fight. The foundation is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and securing funds desperately needed for research. Programs like the one at MUSC give patients hope and are a vital part of cancer treatment. Team Draft’s visit to MUSC was part of an extensive National Campaign public awareness campaign to visit cancer research and treatment facilities working diligently to prevent and treat lung cancer. Respond and Donate
Team Draft and the National Lung Cancer Partnership are joining forces to bring much needed attention and critical resources to lung cancer.
“Lung cancer came into my house, and it took my wife. Too many families are affected by this horrible disease. It’s time to respond,” said CDFF founder, Chris Draft, of his Team Draft initiative. “That’s why Keasha and I launched Team Draft. She wanted to be an inspiration to those battling the disease and we wanted to raise awareness so that other families wouldn’t have to go through what we went through. Team Draft is committed to changing the face of lung cancer, but it takes a team to tackle cancer, and we are proud to partner with the National Lung Cancer Partnership.”
Along with the Partnership, Team Draft is launching the East Coast leg of a nationwide public awareness campaign to change the face of lung cancer. The two-week tour will include stops at some of the top cancer research and treatment facilities in the country, including several members of the Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium (the LCMC).
The Team Draft East Coast Tour will visit several cities to share the vision of Team Draft, including:
Charlotte, NC
Chapel Hill, NC
Washington, D.C.
Baltimore, MD
Philadelphia, PA
Mt. Laurel, NJ
New York, NY
Boston, MA
Washington. D.C.
Charleston, SC
John D. Roberts, M.D., is associate director for clinical research at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center. Also a professor of internal medicine and hematology, oncology and palliative care at the VCU School of Medicine, Roberts is an expert in the treatment of melanoma and urological cancers. His research focuses on the development of new agents and treatments for fighting cancer. He oversees more than 100 cancer clinical trials at VCU Massey. Respond and Donate
FROM ABC2 BALTIMORE – Chris Draft, a 12-year-veteran of the National Football League, got a special tour of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins today.
Draft says he was happy to bring awareness to the work being done at Johns Hopkins, especially for the fight against Lung Cancer.
He lost his wife Keasha Rutledge to the disease last December.
Rutledge was diagnosed with stage four Lung Cancer just 11 months before the couple married.
Draft says she had never smoked, and lived a very healthy lifestyle.
Although there is still a huge amount of work to be done, Draft says he has already seen tremendous progress.
“Yes, when you look at some of the numbers see a five-year mortality rate, it might not be that different than say 30-years-ago. But there’s a lot of things that are changing and there is hope for people.”
In addition to bringing attention to the important work being done at Johns Hopkins, he is also an Ed Block Courage Award Winner.
Dr. Brock’s research has focused primarily on developing and clinically applying molecular biomarkers, namely DNA methylation, to facilitate the early detection, accurate prognosis and specific chemosensitivity of lung and esophageal cancers. Current projects include using DNA methylation as a more accurate molecular indicator of lymph micrometases in a large cohort of lung cancer patients and as a means of predicting sensitivity of esophageal cancer to neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on endoscopic biopsy samples. Dr. Brock actively collaborates with Drs. Stephen Baylin and James Herman in the Division of Tumor Biology in the Cancer Center. Recently, Dr. Brock has received NIH funding to investigate the rising incidence of lung cancer in HIV patients and has begun both a clinical study and a tumor-profiling project in this regard. Finally, the Brock laboratory has developed large relational databases of lung and esophageal patients with matching biological samples to validate biomarker discovery. Respond and Donate
Chris Draft leads Team Draft to meet with Pasi Janne, MD,PhD at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to support lung cancer research.
Associated with the world-renowned Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Pasi A. Janne, MD, PhD, is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania – School of Medicine in Philadelphia. Upon earning his medical degree from this prestigious institution, Janne completed a residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and earned a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Dana Farber. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and works in the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Respond and Donate
Former NFL linebacker Chris Draft’s foundation, Team Draft, has teamed up with the National Lung Cancer Partnership to help fight the stigma of lung cancer and promote research to find new treatments. Chris Draft stopped by Dana-Farber to meet with Pasi Janne, MD,PhD, a thoracic oncologist and one of the scientific directors of the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science, to learn more about the lung cancer research being done at Dana-Farber. Respond and Donate
Dr. Sequist and her colleagues at MGH have been at the forefront of research in EGFR mutations: her group was among the first to identify activating mutations and observe the correlation with response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), and they continue to do much of the leading clinical research on acquired resistance — the development of progression after an initial good response — and potential mechanisms for reversing this.
