Help win the fight! Run in the Winship Win the Fight 5K!

“Every dollar makes a difference,” says Walter J. Curran, Jr., executive director of the Winship Cancer Institute. “We very much appreciate the trust our patients and their family members put into Winship, and community support makes a tremendous difference in our cutting-edge research against this disease.”

The Winship Win the Fight 5K is USTF-certified, making it a Peachtree Road Race qualifier. It is the only metro area 5K to be held in historic Druid Hills, one of Atlanta’s most beautiful neighborhoods. Runners and walkers will be able to enjoy the treecanopied streets of the neighborhood, which should be dressed in autumn regalia for the event.

“We are looking forward to bringing our community together for cancer and cancer research awareness and to introducing a terrific new route for Atlanta families who enjoy running and walking,” Curran says.

Runners and walkers, take your mark on Oct. 15 for Atlanta’s newest 5K. Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University will hold its inaugural “Winship Win the Fight 5K” on Saturday Oct.15, 2011, to bring the community together in the fight against cancer.

The run/walk will begin and end at Emory University’s McDonough Field complex on Asbury Circle on the west side of the Emory campus. Registration is $25. Participants can organize teams or raise funds in a variety of ways and direct their fundraising efforts toward the Winship cancer research program of their choice. Register early at winshipcancer.emory.edu/winthefight5k

Late-comers can register the morning of the race at 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 a.m. Start time is 8:00 a.m. Ample parking is available at no charge in the Peavine Parking Deck on campus.

“This is a fight that matters now more than ever,” Curran says of the efforts to find cures for cancer. “Scientific research moves closer toward answers to some of cancer’s most difficult questions, but the toll of this disease remains tragically high. Cancer touches every American in some way. I want people to know what Winship is doing to minimize cancer’s lethal toll, and we can all run to support our life-saving research programs. ”

Registration and more information are available online at winshipcancer.emory.edu/winthefight5k.

Patient Assistance Fund helps those with financial need

Receiving a cancer diagnosis not only leads to the question of “How will beat this disease?”, but also “How do I afford it?” Jim Hankins, social services director of Winship Cancer Institute, aimed to answer the latter concern when he established the Winship Patient Assistance Fund in 2002.

The funds come from a variety of sources, with donations often varying in size, says Hankins. Many donations are made by family and friends in memory of patients, he says.

The fund also receives support from fundraising endeavors, both from patients as well as from the Winship community. “Everyone’s coming together to make this happen,” says Hankins.

Because of the sluggish economy, more patients are facing financial challenges than they are when times are good, Hankins says, so donations are especially appreciated – and needed.

This support has added up; so far this year, the fund has raised close to $40,000. Donations are accepted in form of cash or check made out to the Winship Patient Assistance Fund. Contact Mark hughes at (404) 778-1288 for any further questions about donating.

Winship getting a lot of help from T.J.’s friends and raised $50,000 doing so for T.J.’s Friends, a charity that raises money for cancer and AIDS research. The group is a spinoff of the T.J. Martell Foundation, begun in 1975. That group was started by music industry executive Tony Martell after he lost his 19-year-old son, T.J., to leukemia. The T.J. Martell Foundation has since raised $250 million for cancer and AIDS research.

Winship welcomed a visit in June from the Perry sisters and Sarah Caplinger on behalf of T.J.’s Friends. The group delivered a $50,000 check to aid leukemia research, help fund the Winship Summer Scholars Research Program, directed by Mary Jo Lechowicz, MD, and support Students for Science, run by Adam Marcus, PhD, to interest students of all ages in science.

An extraordinary group of teens recently made fundraising fun – and gave the proceeds to Winship. Led by sisters Sarah Beth, 14, and Grace Ann Perry, 13, teenagers from schools around the metro area baked, cooked, sold ornaments –

Thank you, Friends of Winship!

“We don’t receive gifts like this every day, and certainly not from young people,” says Winship Executive Director Walter J. Curran, Jr. “We are overwhelmed by their compassion, hard work and generosity. We are very grateful for this gift, which will help our research programs focused on malignancies that especially affect young people.”

If there’s something cool going on, you can bet that the Friends of Winship are involved. And so it was on a recent steamy August afternoon when the Friends served cookies and cold lemonade to patients and staff on the first floor and on the plaza level at Winship Cancer Institute. The Friends of Winship hold many functions to raise spirits, as they did at the lemonade social, and to raise money for Winship Cancer Institute. If you would like to become involved, call 404-778-1769, or visit winshipcancer.emory.edu/friends