Posts Tagged ‘Team Draft’

LA Clippers Pay Tribute to Keasha Draft

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
Chris Draft and the Spirit Dance Team

Chris Draft and the Spirit Dance Team

This evening, the LA Clippers’ Spirit Dance Team joined other NBA and NCAA dance squads that have honored Keasha’s memory by performing dance tributes.  During the Clippers’ game against the Denver Nuggets, the Spirit Dance Team performed a specially choreographed dance in Keasha’s honor.  Through their dance tribute, the Spirit Dance Team is helping Team Draft change the face of lung cancer by helping us spread the word that anybody can get lung cancer—even non-smokers like Keasha.

As a former Charlotte Hornets Honeybee Dancer , Keasha loved dancing.  It gave her strength and hope.  And thanks to the Spirit Dance Team and the other NBA and NCAA dance squads that have performed dance tributes, Keasha is still dancing today.

Respond and donate at www.teamdraft.org.

Dance, Smile, Live at St. Joseph’s Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment

Monday, February 20th, 2012

Team Draft ended the West Coast leg of its national campaign to change the face of lung cancer with a stop at St. Joseph’s Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment in Orange, California where we met DeeDee Weathers-Cox, a former Laker Girl who is using dance therapy to help cancer survivors.  During free weekly classes, DeeDee uses dance not only as way to help cancer survivors stay fit, but to treat the psychological scares that often accompany a cancer diagnosis.

Like DeeDee, Keasha understood the therapeutic power of dance.  Following her first chemotherapy treatment, she and Chris made a video of her dancing to send a message to their friends and family that they would dance, smile, and live no matter what.  Read the full article on the Orange County Register’s website.

Respond and Donate

San Francisco’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center is Tackling Lung Cancer

Friday, February 17th, 2012

Today, Team Draft had the privilege of touring UC San Francisco’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCSF) with lung cancer survivor and advocate, Bonnie J. Addario.  Five years ago, Bonnie was diagnosed with Stage IIIB non-small cell lung cancer.  She was given only a 2% chance of survival.  Like Keasha, Bonnie is a fighter, and after life-saving surgery performed at UCSF, she is now cancer free.  But, for Bonnie the fight isn’t over.

Bonnie is a tireless advocate.  She is the founder of both the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF) and its partner organization, the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI).  Through research, awareness, and advocacy efforts, BJALCF and ALCMI are working to increase the survival rate for lung cancer.

Team Draft is proud to call Bonnie a friend, and we look forward to working closely with BJALCF and ALCMI as we change the face of lung cancer.

Respond and Donate 

Keasha Danced: Anniversary of Keasha’s 1st Chemo

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

On February 16, 2011, Keasha Danced!  Today marks the anniversary of Keasha’s first chemotherapy treatment, and we remember a woman who courageously faced lung cancer, showing us all with every breath that we all need to hold onto life and love with both hands for as long as we can.

Keasha’s Dance after her 1st Chemo from TEAM DRAFT on Vimeo.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
-Maya Angelou

Vanderbilt-Ingram is Tackling Lung Cancer

Monday, February 13th, 2012

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the country.  It kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney, and melanoma  cancer combined.  While these facts may be disheartening, there is hope.  Team Draft took a trip to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center to meet with Dr. Pierre Massion, Ingram Associate Professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology, to learn how advancements in early detection and treatment are saving extending lives.

Thanks to the dedication and commitment of researchers and treating physicians like Dr. Massion and his colleagues at Vanderbilt-Ingram, we now have a mechanism to detect  lung cancer early, which dramatically increases the survival rate for lung cancer patients.  By submitting high-risk patients to regular spiral CT scans and CAT scans, doctors have decreased the mortality rate by 20%.

Vanderbilt-Ingram and the other members of the 14-hospital Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium (LCMC) are also revolutionizing the way lung cancer is treated by promoting molecular tumor mutation testing for lung cancer patients.  It is through such testing performed at Vanderbilt-Ingram that Keasha’s particular mutation was identified.  Molecular testing is one of the keys to developing effective personalized lung cancer treatments.  As a result of these efforts, the LCMC has already developed targeted drugs aimed at two of the mutations known to cause lung cancer.  These drugs are extending the lives of some patients by as much as 10 months.

Although there has been significant progress over the last decade, more funding is necessary to maintain the momentum.  Team Draft is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing badly needed research funding by changing the face of lung cancer, but it takes a team to tackle cancer, and we need your help.  Respond and Donate

Dr. Pierre Massion, Vanderbilt University from TEAM DRAFT on Vimeo.

There’s a Draft in the Building: Fox Charlotte Interview

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

Chris Draft visits Fox Charlotte’s studio to wrap up his weekend trip to the Carolinas.

Chris Draft on Fox Charolette from TEAM DRAFT on Vimeo.

Charlotte Bobcats Pay Tribute to Keasha Draft

Saturday, February 11th, 2012

The Charlotte Bobcats’ Lady Cats dance team paid tribute to Keasha tonight with a special dance dedicated to her memory performed during the Bobcats’ game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

As a former Charlotte Hornets Honeybee Dancer , Keasha loved dancing.  It gave her strength and hope.  And after her first chemotherapy treatment, she and Chris made a video of her dancing to send a message to her friends and family that she would keep dancing no matter what, and as a reminder to always dance, smile, and live.

Thanks to the Lady Cat’s and the other NBA and NCAA dance squads that have performed dance tributes, Keasha is still dancing today. See Keasha’s dance after her first chemo treatment on the Team Draft Vimeo page.

Respond and donate at TeamDraft.org.

Team Draft Keeps Pounding in Charlotte

Friday, February 10th, 2012

Team Draft travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina today—a city that holds a special place in our hearts.  Although born in Anderson, South Carolina, Charlotte was Keasha’s adopted hometown before she moved to Atlanta to be with Chris.  And it is in Charlotte where Chris and Keahsa first met and fell in love.  At the time, Chris was playing for the Carolina Panthers and Keasha was working for Sanofi-Aventis Pharmaceuticals.

Team Draft came to Charlotte to visit the Levine Cancer Institute (LCI) at Carolinas Medical Center.  Team Draft toured LCI and met with hospital administrators, doctors, and staff members in support of our  efforts to promote cancer awareness, research, and scholarship, and to improve the patient treatment experience by identifying and promoting best practices.

As one of the newest cancer centers in the country, LCI is revolutionizing the cancer treatment model by redefining the traditional cancer center.  Traditionally, cancer care services are centralized on flagship campuses, but LCI is taking the opposite approach, offering compassionate, state-of-the-art  care to patients at facilities throughout both North and South Carolina.  By eliminating natural distance barriers between cancer centers, LCI is giving patients the home field advantage in their fight against cancer.

Respond and donate at TeamDraft.org.

Derek Raghavan, M.D., Ph.D, Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, NC from TEAM DRAFT on Vimeo.

 

Team Draft kicks off its national campaign to change the face of lung cancer during Super Bowl Week in Indianapolis

Monday, February 6th, 2012

In December 2010, Keasha Rutledge Draft was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer when she went to her doctor after feeling a slight shortness of breath a few days earlier.  As a former Charlotte Hornets Honeybee dancer and member of Clemson University’s Rally Cat dance squad, Keasha was an energetic, vibrant young woman who never smoked and was the picture of health at the time of her diagnosis.  Despite the diagnosis and knowing the long odds they faced, Keasha and her husband, former NFL linebacker, Chris Draft decided to fight back.  On November 27, 2011, standing side-by-side, they launched Team Draft together at their wedding.  One month later, Keasha lost her courageous fight.

Team Draft is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing badly needed research funding by shattering the misconception that lung cancer is a “smoker’s disease.”  The fact is, anybody can get lung cancer.  Between 20,000 and 30,000 people who have never smoked—including Keasha—are diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States each year.  Yet, despite the fact that lung cancer is the number one cancer kill for women and kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney, and melanoma cancer combined, these cancers receive proportionality more research funding than does lung cancer, largely because of the stigma associated with the disease.  Team Draft is out to change all that, and during Super Bowl Week in Indianapolis, Team Draft kicked off a  national campaign to change the face of lung cancer.

The week began with Chris Draft hitting “radio row” to raise lung cancer awareness by telling Keasha’s inspiring story and challenging people to respond on national and local radio shows across the country.  Chris carried that message to the Super Bowl of Gospel, where he gave a powerful testimonial about Keasha’s indomitable spirit and grace in the face of this life-threatening disease.

Later in the week, Chris toured Indianapolis’ newly-expanded St. Francis Cancer Center where he had the opportunity to talk with doctors, hospital administrators and staff, and  to visit with patients.  The 90,000 square foot facility includes a salon where patients can be fitted with wigs in a private, comfortable environment, a retail center, a patient resource center, and a magnificent two-story glass lobby adjacent to a private outdoor courtyard, providing natural light and pleasant outdoor surroundings accessible to patients and their families.  These amenities highlight St. Francis’ commitment to treating the entire patient, and not just the disease. 

Team Draft is dedicated to leading improvements in the patient treatment experience by improving cancer treatment facilities and creating a better environment in which those battling the disease can fight.  The St. Francis Cancer Center is just the first stop on a national tour of state-of-the-art cancer centers Team Draft will be going on to identify best practices in patient care and cancer treatment.

The campaign kick-off concluded on Super Bowl Sunday when, as part of a special edition of Sunday NFL Countdown, ESPN premiered Jeremy Schaap’s touching profile of Chris and Keasha, and their commitment to dance, smile, and live as they fought lung cancer together.

Team Draft is committed to carrying on that fight by promoting awareness, research, and scholarship through its national campaign to change the face of lung cancer, but it takes a team to tackle cancer, and we need your help.  You can follow the campaign on this blog and respond and donate at www.teamdraft.org

Sunday NFL Countdown – Keasha & Chris Draft from TEAM DRAFT on Vimeo.
5 Facts About Lung Cancer
1. Anyone can get lung cancer
2. Nearly 50-60% of lung cancers are diagnosed in either never-smokers or former smokers.
3. Lung cancer surpassed Breast cancer as the number #1 cancer killer of women in 1987
4. A 5 year survival rate is only 15% — the same as it was 40 years ago. Although survivals for early stage lung cancers have improved in recent years, there is no cure for stage 4 lung cancer, which is by far the most common stage at the time of diagnosis.
5. Lung Cancer kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney and melanoma cancer…Combined

Tonya Ramseur-Taylor is Changing the Face of Lung Cancer

Saturday, January 7th, 2012

Steven Fuller, the Chris Draft Family Foundation’s Director of Operations

Steven Fuller talks about his cousin, Tonya Ramseur-Taylor from TEAM DRAFT on Vimeo.

From Tonya’s blog:

My name is Tonya and I am a Cancer Fighter.  On July 22, 2010, I was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer – Adenocarcinoma; non-small cell.  Since being diagnosed, I have come into contact with people from all walks of life and more often than not, in conversation you can learn a lot about a person.  Over the last several months I have met or talked to at least one person on a daily basis who is a cancer-fighter or the know someone with cancer.  If they learn that I have cancer, the typical response is “wow, you don’t look sick”.  I laugh and say “that is because I am not sick.”  This is a good thing because the “face” of cancer is changing.  There are so many natural options available to us all that we no longer have to walk around looking like the “walking dead” or the “walking sick”.  The knowledge I have gained in doing my homework has been rewarding and my body is doing remarkably well considering the circumstances.  Also, I get asked so very often “how I found out that I had cancer; what symptoms did I have; and how is it that I do not ‘look sick’.  With what I shared with them and many others, I was urged and encouraged to share my story with others in hopes that others will benefit from my experiences.  The encouragement from others was confirmation that I should document my experiences – a decision I had considered the very moment I learned that I had cancer.  At that time, my initial thought was to do “YouTube” video journals of my journey, but I was not sure about whether or not to write a book, so I put off doing either.  I pondered and procrastinated about it for a long while, but as time went on I was sharing my story more than two to three times per week, but it was no longer about “how I found out”, my spirit was being lead towards offering hope, purporting faith, being encouraging, and providing information about “what” I was doing to stay healthy.

Tonya passed on January 3, 2012. She authored a blog during her journey with lung cancer…Faith Through Cancer …Finding Purpose Beyond the Storm.