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October 2016
Serving Danville
Lazarex Cancer Foundation: Giving Life a Chance By Jody Morgan
A lifeline for individuals who have lost all other hope for survival, Lazarex Cancer Foundation has helped more than 1,650 patients with 147 different types of cancer participate in 900 FDA approved clinical trials. Patients range in age from 4 to 86. They come from 49 states and 14 countries. By identifying appropriate trials and paying otherwise unaffordable travel expenses to and from trial sites across the US, Lazarex has added 280,035 days to the lives of those they have served. The value to future cancer patients of life-saving drugs approved because of their participation is incalculable. “We can’t get tired,” Lazarex Founder Dana Dornsife explains. “We have 400 patients on our active roster counting on us every day.” Dornsife had no idea she would soon be immersed in learning medical jargon when she sent her youngest off to college and sold her business in 2003 – just before her brother-in-law Mike Miller learned he had pancreatic cancer. Dana spent five weeks full-time searching the Internet for a drug that might help him. Clinical trials generally are open only to patients in the final stage of cancer. Mike qualified.
Knitted Knockers By Fran Miller
It was Barbara Demorest’s physician who directed her to a noninvasive aesthetic solution following her double mastectomy in 2011. He asked Demorest, a Washington state resident, if she was a knitter and showed her a photo of a “knitted knocker” with an online link to the pattern. Too frail to undertake the knitting project herself, she asked a dear friend to make a pair for her. The handmade knockers did the job, and were light and comfortable. It was after her first “wearing” that Demorest resolved to make the item readily available to local mastectomy patients, and thus, KnittedKnockers.org was born.
See Knockers continued on page 20
Local Wine By Fran Miller
Wine lovers might agree that Danville resident Chris Chandler has one of the best jobs in the industry. As executive director of the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association, it is Chandler’s job to
Danville Mayor Mike Doyle, Pancreatic Cancer Victory Tour cyclist Eric McIntyre and Lazarex Founder Dana Dornsife salute victory over cancer. (Photo by Todd Hillman Media Services)
Mike responded so well to his trial drug that other patients asked what was making him appear so healthy. He referred them to Dana. Her research offered hope that financial considerations quickly dashed. Mike’s family could afford trial-related costs, but other patients in his cancer community had already exhausted their resources. Mike survived long enough to help his sons prepare for their future and his daughter remember her father. Determined that all cancer patients matched with suitable clinical trials should have the monetary means to participate, Dornsife founded Lazarex in 2006. A miraculous confluence of opportunity with altruism provided Lazarex’s first patient with time to be a teen for several happy months. Ian’s symptoms began with pain after running the mile in 8th grade. Possibly he had shin splints or growing pains? X-rays revealed bone cancer. Rounds of chemotherapy undermined his ability to function without diminishing the cancer. Dana didn’t hesitate when Ian’s mother called saying she’d found a promising
Chris Chandler (c), executive director of the Livermore Winegrower’s Association presides over the annual ‘blessing of the grapes’with (l to r) Pastor Steve Wilde, First Presbyterian Church Livermore, Father Mark Wiesner, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Volume VII - Number 12 and Rabbi Larry Milder, Congregation Beth Emek. 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, market the area’s liquid treasures. With Alamo, CA 94507 (925) 405-6397 more than 50 wineries within the 25-mile Fax (925) 406-0547 long, 18-mile wide Livermore Valley
See Lazarex continued on page 21 territory, Chandler is a very busy, and very
Local Postal Customer
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happy, woman. One of the oldest wine regions in California, the Livermore Valley winegrowing belt spans seven cities: San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton, Sunol, Livermore, the eastern edge of Castro Valley, and Danville. Elegant and accessible
See Wine continued on page 22
Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher editor@ yourmonthlypaper.com The opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do not necessarily reflect that of Danville Today News. Danville Today News is not responsible for the content of any of the advertising herein, nor does publication imply endorsement.