#619 – Relay For Life Charity Poker Tournament on Full Tilt

On Sunday, December 21, at 18:00 ET I am hosting a $5 + $5 No-Limit Hold ‘Em tournamnet on Full Tilt. From each entry $5 will go into the prize pool and $5 will go to Scottsdale Relay For Life. Jo Anne and I are actively involved in this cancer charity and Full Tilt was nice enough to let me host the tournament. (If you are nice enough to enter, the event is listed with the private tournaments, and the password is “relay”.)

Let me share a little information about this cause to encouarage you to participate. I’m primarly interested in getting everybody who reads this to play the tournament, but I would love it if you are in Scottsdale on May 8-9, 2009, to participate in the Relay.

Relay For Life started 25 years ago when a Tacoma surgeon ran and walked 83 miles in 24 hours to raise $27,000 for his local branch of the American Cancer Society (ACS). The publicity from and success of his efforts spawned team events in which successive members of teams would walk or run all night, both as a gimmick to raise money, and as a symbol that because cancer never sleeps, people trying to end cancer must be ever-vigilant. The events have also become a way to honor cancer survivors and remember those who have fallen.

All the money raised goes to the American Cancer Society. Just about everybody has heard of ACS but it wasn’t until I got involved with Relay For Life that I learned what a gigantic role it has played in the fight against cancer. ACS provides advocacy (fighting for laws and appropriations), patient services (information and support services for people afflicted with cancer and their families), education (information and screening to prevent cancer or detect it early), and research.

ACS’s contribution to research blew me away. Since it began funding cancer research in 1945, ACS has given away $3 billion. Just to give you an idea of the impact of this research money, some of the first MILLION dollars they spent in 1945 resulted in the birth of modern chemotherapy. ACS has funded 42 Nobel Prize winners, including, among others, Drs. Watson & Crick in their legendary DNA/double-helix work. ACS research has also been responsible for the safety and efficacy of mammograms, Pap tests, PSA exams, and radiation as an alternative to mastectomy surgery for breast cancer.

There are plenty of arguments – maybe some of them valid – about the size of the investment in cancer research these last 65 years and the fact that 10 million people still have cancer each year. But we are winning the fight and ACS is a good horse to back. Currently, about half of all cancer can be prevented or easily detected and treated through education, screening, and advances in early-detection treatment. And for virtually every other type of cancer, advancements in treatment have improved survival rates, sometimes drastically. Finally with all the genetic research going on, some massive breakthroughs could occur in the not-too-distant future.

Relay For Life has grown to 20 countries and 3.5 million volunteers. In 25 years, it has raised $3 billion. Jo Anne and I participated in the 2007-08 Scottsdale Relay by organizing and chaparoning 3 teams from Jo Anne’s school in the month before the 2008 Relay. We and our kids had a wonderful time during that overnight walk at a local high school track, and at the same time we were moved by he event’s dedication to survivors and victims of cancer. Jo Anne became co-chair of the 2008-09 Scottsdale Relay, which will take place at Sahuaro High School on May 8-9, 2009. I have become the co-chair of mission delivery, which mostly involves telling people like you why this is a good cause.

If you are interested in participating in the Scottsdale Relay, it would be wonderful to have you join us. E-mail me at mrchaotic@aol.com for information, or if you would like to find out about one of the 5,000 communities hosting a local Relay.

In the meantime, enter my tournament on Sunday, December 21, at 18:00 ET. Again, password is “relay”.

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