Local woman will travel to Iceland to support blood cancer research By Bailey Wright Town Times
noes, glaciers, geysers, hot springs, gorges, lava beds, and waterfalls.
Seven years ago, Tina Fazio Hurlbert’s husband Scott was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer.
The hike is sponsored by Moving Mountains for Multiple Myeloma, a collaboration between CURE Media Group and MMRF, created in 2016. They have raised about $2.5 million for cancer research through trips like this one, with patients, doctors and caregivers taking on challenging mountains to demonstrate the advancements made in recent years, according to a prepared statement.
After undergoing surgery, months of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, he is currently in remission. Multiple myeloma is a treatable but incurable blood cancer. “Prior to Scott’s diagnosis, I had never heard of multiple myeloma,” Hurlbert, a Durham resident, said in a statement. She credits his doctors and team of researchers for his ability to watch their daughters grow up. Hurlbert will travel to Iceland in August to mark her husband’s recovery and give back to the doctors and caregivers who helped him. “Being a member of MMRF Team for Cures at this Moving Mountains for Multiple Myeloma event allows me to take some direct action in helping to fund the research needed for my husband and so many others affected by this terrible disease,” Hurlbert said.
Friday, June 28, 2019
www.towntimes.com
Volume 23, Number 13
Tina Fazio Hurlbert.
She will join 15 other myeloma caregivers, patients and doctors for the Moving Mountains for Multiple Myeloma program, a trek through Iceland to raise funds and awareness for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Team for Cures (MMRF).
“We have found ways to get the impossible done with events like moving mountains for multiple myeloma,” said Jane Hoffmann, associate director of Team for Cures, in a statement. “The success of these events is directly correlated to the passion of each hiker who not only takes on the challenge of these hikes, but makes a difference in the lives of patients with multiple myeloma.”
MMRF was founded in 1998 Over five days, the group will by Kathy Giusti, a multiple hike rigorous trails for seven myeloma patient, with her or eight hours a day and stay sister Karen Andrews. The in mountain huts in “incred- nonprofit seeks to find a ible settings.” On the “Fire + cure for the disease, and has Ice Trek” they will encounter geologic marvels like volcaSee Iceland, A17
ELECTION 2019
Francis, Szewczyk, Hennick ready to run By Bailey Wright Town Times
Durham First Selectman Laura Francis has announced plans to run for reelection this fall. Incumbent selectmen John Szewczyk and Thomas Hennick also are seeking reelection. Francis, a Republican, has served as First Selectman since 2007 and will be running for a fourth term. She previously served as town clerk, for 10 years, and was named Connecticut’s Town Clerk of the Year during that time. “I have been honored to serve the people of Durham as their First Selectman,” Francis said in a statement. “I have strived to make Durham a better place for all of our citizens to live and raise their families.” Francis said she is proud of several accomplishments during her tenure, including improvements to infrastructure, the management of town employees, and savings found in the use of grants and re-
structuring. “I am especially pleased, that after more than three decades, a Francis waterline is being constructed from Middletown that will provide clean drinking water to residences along Main Street and the abutting area that have suffered well water contamination,” Francis said, noting that this is happening with cooperation from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and several state departments at “little to no cost to our taxpayers.” She also referred to road improvement projects on Higganum Road, Coe Road, Maiden and Pickett lanes and others, which have been financed by “millions of dollars of grants” she pushed to receive from various state and federal programs. “I believe I have obtained See Election, A15
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