Fundraising event sold out at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell
Clifton, N.J. – Mountain Ridge Country Club, scene of the USGA 2012 Senior Amateur Championship and one of Golf Week’s “Top 100 Classic Courses in America,” was filled earlier this summer for the Cure Breast Cancer Golf Classic. This annual event, continually one of the most successful fundraising efforts of the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF), once again set a new record with over a staggering $542,000 in funds raised this year alone.
The 6th annual event was held to support breast cancer research efforts under the direction of Dr. Larry Norton, the Deputy Physician-in-Chief for Breast Cancer Programs and the Medical Director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
The twenty-seven foursomes that participated in the golf classic enjoyed brunch during registration and teed off at 12:30 p.m. A $1 Million Dollar Hole-In-One Shootout and drawing for the 2013 Blue Chevrolet Camaro Convertible also took place.
The festivities concluded with a reception dinner where over two hundred guests were addressed by the foundation’s scientific advisor, Dr. Larry Norton, and field experts Dr. Elizabeth Comen (also from MSKCC), and Dr. Ethel Siris from Columbia University Medical Center.
“Over the years the golf outing has proven to be one of our most exciting and successful events,” said Andrew Abramson, Treasurer and Co-Founder of CBCF, which is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization. “We are so grateful for the support of eager players and generous company sponsorships that have allowed 2013 to be another successful year.”
Since its inception in December 2007, CBCF has raised in excess of $4 Million through events such as the annual Golf Classic, walk-a-thons, fashion shows and other fundraising activities. Fully 100% of its net fundraising proceeds received by the foundation are donated to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and other national and international cancer research facilities to support the groundbreaking research being conducted under the direction of Dr. Norton and his colleagues.
Dr. Norton's research focuses on the theory of breast cancer “self seeding”: the ability of breast cancer cells to move and start new cancers growing, not only in distant organs like the bones and liver (called metastases), but in the breast itself. This behavior is referred to as “self seeding” as it recalls the way weeds take over a garden: not by the growth of each individual weed plant, but by the seeding of new weed plants that grow in a confluent fashion. By this concept, breast cancer is not one mass, but rather a collection of contiguous smaller masses.
This method of growth is indeed true in certain experimental models and research is ongoing to prove that it happens in people as well. It explains many aspects of cancer: rapid growth, disorganization, formation of new blood vessels, need to irradiate a breast after lumpectomy for cancer and the association of all of the above with distant metastases. If correct, it will provide new targets for the development of drugs to treat and prevent cancer. Since “seeding” is an abnormal process—as opposed to the normal process of mitosis—such drugs may not only be more effective, but less toxic as well. Hence, the concept of self-seeding is not only interesting from the point of view of biology, but possibly very important in the design of better approaches to cancer management and prevention, as well as in finding a cure.
For more information on the CBCF, please visit www.curebreastcancerfoundation.org or call (973) 471-CBCF (2223).
Cure Breast Cancer Foundation
The Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) is a Clifton, N.J. – based not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charity devoted to fund research on the growth and spreading of breast cancer cells, also known as the Self-Seeding Theory, at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and other national and international cancer research facilities under the direction of Dr. Larry Norton.
The founder and president is Carly Abramson. Her father, Andrew Abramson, is Treasurer. For more information, call (973) 471-CBCF (2223), e-mail info@curebreastcancerfoundation.org or visit www.curebreastcancerfoundation.org.
