Saturday, December 12, 2009

Dancing for Joan Press Release

Nancy Grace Back to Emcee 3rd Annual "Dancing for Joan" Benefitting Lung Cancer Awareness & Research
50% of Net Proceeds will benefit the Wigbels/Herbst Cancer Research Fund
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Log (Press Release) – Dec 12, 2009 – The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation today announced that Headline News Host Nancy Grace will emcee their annual DANCING FOR JOAN fund raiser for the second year in a row. Ms. Grace will once again join Honorary Chairman Paul Scheinberg, Chief of Staff at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta, to lead this festive evening of cocktails, dinners, dancing, and silent auction. 50% of the net proceeds from the event will benefit the Wigbels/Herbst Cancer Research Fund, specifically to help with M.D. Anderson's BATTLE (Biomarker-based Approaches of Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer Elimination) Clinical Trials. The remaining funds will be used for multi-media awareness campaigns throughout 2010.
The event will be held at the Pavilion of East Cobb, 736 Johnson Ferry Road in Marietta on Saturday, February 20th, 2010. DANCING FOR JOAN honors the late Joan Gaeta's love of dancing with this call-to-action in the fight against lung cancer. It is an exciting and fun way to honor important contributors in the crusade against the disease, to educate guests, and to raise the funds needed for awareness campaigns, research, and support.
Tickets and sponsorship packages can be purchased at www.dancingforjoan.org.
Last year's second annual event raised over $35,000 and enabled The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation to fund several exciting initiatives for 2009 in the fight against the disease. These initiatives included a $15,000 investment in The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI), a national, virtual lung cancer research institute. The foundation also invested in a month-long online awareness campaign on the web site of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as an outdoor awareness campaign with a billboard from CBS Outdoor. In addition, they sponsored two lung cancer awareness 5Ks in the metro Atlanta area. The foundation also sponsors a monthly lung cancer support group a Saint Joseph's Hospital.
LUNG CANCER FACTS
-Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States - 1 in every 3 cancer deaths.
-It kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney, and melanoma cancers combined.
-It kills more than three times as many men as prostate cancer.
-It kills more than twice as many women as breast cancer.
-It kills an average of 439 people per day in the United States alone.
-You do not have to smoke to get lung cancer.
-Over 60% of new cases are diagnosed in never-smokers or former smokers who quit decades ago.
-Lung Cancer in those who have never smoked kills more Americans each year than AIDS.
-1 in 5 women diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked.
-The five year survival rate of lung cancer is only 15% - the same as it was over 35 years ago.
-Federal research funding per cancer death, 2007: Breast - $24,000, Prostate - $12,000, Lung - $1,400
ABOUT NANCY GRACE
Nancy Grace is television's only justice themed/interview/debate show, designed for those interested in the breaking crime news of the day. Grace challenges guests on the most high-profile legal issues of the day by drawing on her unique perspective as a former violent crimes prosecutor and as a crime victim herself. Nancy Grace provides viewers with a clear understanding of not only the top crime stories, but also the cases often overlooked. Grace first wrote the New York Times bestseller Objection, a nonfiction book, now Grace’s first novel, The Eleventh Victim, debuted number six on the New York Times Bestseller list, was released this year by Hyperion. It is the first book in a new thriller series..
ABOUT THE WIGBELS/HERBST CANCER RESEARCH FUND
This mission of the Wigbels/Herbst Cancer Research Fund at M. D. Anderson is to raise much-needed funding for more ground-breaking research so that more people who are battling cancer can have the opportunity for individualized, targeted therapy and the chance for a brighter future.
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ABOUT THE JOAN GAETA LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION
Established in the fall of 2007, The Joan Gaeta Lung Cancer Foundation was created by her husband and children to raise awareness of the disease, to educate the public, and to be an advocate for research. We also strive to eliminate the stigma of lung cancer and support survivors and their loved ones in our local community.
A lifelong non-smoker, Joan was a devoted wife, teacher, and mother of five. Diagnosed in early 2004, she fought a three and a half year battle before succumbing to the cancer in July of 2007.
During that time, Joan stressed the need for greater awareness of lung cancer (the number one cancer killer in the world), its low survival rate, and its tragic lack of research funds. She was most passionate about eliminating the stigma of the disease, since lung cancer also strikes non-smokers at a high rate.

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