On Friday, Aug. 24, golfers will gather at Highland Park Country Club in Highland Park, IL, to "Take a Swing at Breast Cancer," the second annual tournament raising funds for research teams at Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chicago. The event is produced by A Sister's Hope, a non-profit organization founded in 2006 by Chicagoan Cathy Seabaugh specifically to raise money for research. Over the past five years, A Sister's Hope events have generated nearly $5 million that already is at work in the laboratories.
This year's golf tournament is in memory of Jinks Jervey-Page, who worked as a rider representative in the Chicago AIDS Ride office. Jinks lost her fight with breast cancer at age 39. Her husband, Jason, and their two young children, Syd and Max, will participate in Highland Park.
Coinciding with the tournament, the new website of A Sister's Hope has launched. The fresh version offers new features that include individual participant pages and an easy system for donors to support the mission to help researchers find a cure.
Registered participants now can go to the new website and set up a username and password. For those not yet registered for one of the events this year, visit the Events page of the website and start your journey to give a sister hope.
Depending on the country you live in, every 13-34 minutes another person is told she (or he) has breast cancer. One in eight women will be diagnosed in her lifetime. The disease is the leading cause of death in women in the United States ages 40-55. Researchers are making progress, but federal and pharmaceutical company support is nowhere near enough. A Sister's Hope is a transparent, focused organization with a direct line to the researchers. Money raised by A Sister's Hope and its participants goes quickly and directly to research teams so they can do their work to save lives.
"At A Sister's Hope, we are not waiting for a cure," Seabaugh said. "We are mobilizing toward it."
For more information about A Sister's Hope, visit www.ASistersHope.org or call 773.412.6397.