Beat Sarcoma

BeatSarcoma issues a $20,000 research gift to Stanford University

2008-11-13T14:21:00.001-08:00

Nathalie Criou, President of BeatSarcoma and Nathan Bossett, CFO, awarded Stanford University the first BeatSarcoma research gift. BeatSarcoma works closely with the medical community to identify under-funded high impact projects that will be conducted by leading non-profit research institutions. It favors fundamental and translational research as the funding needs there are greater and the benefits far-reaching.

'Stanford is a world-class institution that is home to several physicians nationally known for their understanding of sarcomas', says Nathalie Criou. 'when I first came to the Cancer Center for treatment, its team approach to sarcoma research and patient care had shown some great results.'

From left to right: Charlotte Jacobs, M.D., Nathan Bossett and Nathalie Criou

The current knowledge of sarcoma is so limited that specialists find it hard to issue accurate and timely diagnoses. This is an important first step toward effective treatment plans. It is one of the reasons why research efforts focusing on pathology can open the door to so many new developments.

One of the goals of the project coordinated at Stanford is to expand tumor tissue collection, banking and analysis of all types of sarcoma to help physicians better predict clinical outcomes.

Charlotte Jacobs, M.D., Drs Ben and A. Jess Shenson Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, says that 'sarcoma is a challenging disease that primarily affects people in the prime of their lives. It is also severely under-funded and research is still in its infancy. This gift from BeatSarcoma will enable the multi-disciplinary group of clinicians and researchers at Stanford to understand better the underlying pathology of the disease. In turn, this knowledge will help clinicians around the world make better treatment recommendations.'

To read more about the project, click here.

The Perfect Holidays Gift

2008-11-11T20:52:00.000-08:00

BeatSarcoma has a portfolio of photographs that can be turned into cards, presents, clothing, etc...

They make perfect gifts! And all proceeds go to supporting Sarcoma Research - so you are making a double gift: life for sarcoma patients, and art for your loved ones.

Click on the BeatSarcoma Photo Link to start.

Dear Santa "claws",

I'd like to order the mouse pad with some cool BeatSarcoma photos on it. I have been a good kitty.

Thanks,

Pumpkin

BeatSarcoma 'MasCat'

Announcing the Sarcoma Cup 2009 - August 22, 23 2009

2008-11-05T21:50:00.000-08:00

BeatSarcoma and the Richmond Yacht Club are excited to announce the second edition of the Sarcoma Cup - it will take place on August 22&23, 2009 on San Francisco Bay. All proceeds will go to BeatSarcoma.

More details to follow.

BeatSarcoma Annual Volunteer Dinner - 2008

2008-10-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

BeatSarcoma celebrated its first annual volunteer dinner in its San Francisco location. People who contributed to the BeatSarcoma Fun Run and Sarcoma Cup 2008 met to enjoy some - oh so French - crepes!!

If you are interested in volunteering for BeatSarcoma, or if you have ideas of activities and program, don't hesitate to email us! You can check the currently available opportunities on our 'volunteer opportunity listing'.

Nathan, BeatSarcoma's CFO, dutifully preparing a cheese/ham/tomatoes crepe.

Mark, BeatSarcoma's sponsorship team lead for Sarcoma Cup 2009 enjoying the above creation!

A Snapshot of Sarcoma - from National Cancer Institute

2008-08-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

Incidence Rate Trends

Sarcomas are a diverse group of malignant tumors that develop from fat, muscles, nerves, joints, blood vessels, bones, and deep skin tissues. Sarcomas are difficult to differentiate from other malignancies when they are found within organs; thus, they are frequently misdiagnosed and highly underreported.

As a result, although the incidence estimates presented here include the best available data, they are probably low. Because sarcomas often afflict people in the prime of life, the number of years of life lost is substantial despite the relatively low incidence.

It is estimated that approximately 11,590 Americans will be diagnosed with sarcoma and 4,890 will die from the disease in 2007.

Soft tissue sarcoma1 and osteosarcoma (bone sarcoma) incidence rates have remained relatively constant over the past 30 years; however, soft tissue sarcoma is more deadly due to the lack of detectable symptoms at early disease stages. Several subtypes of osteosarcoma and soft tissue sarcoma exist; the exact number of Americans with each sarcoma subtype is unknown.

Source for incidence data: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program and the National Center for Health Statistics. Additional statistics and charts are available at http://seer.cancer.gov/.
1Does not include Kaposi sarcoma, which is addressed in a separate Snapshot.
http://planning.cancer.gov/disease/Sarcoma-Snapshot.pdf

Pacific Cup for Team Sarcoma

2008-08-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

Nat and a few bruises from the 'bouncing around'...

Elise was eager to raise funds!

Nathan is multitasking at the helm

The team proudly displaying their "Team Sarcoma" bracelets at the finish in Hawaii.

And Elise was proudly displaying the Team Sarcoma logo!

Elise successfully completed the 2070 nautical-mile run from San Francisco to Hawaii during the Pacific Cup raising about $4K for sarcoma research in the process.

BeatSarcoma would like to thank all the Beethovens (Team Elise) who made this adventure possible. More photos and videos available at blog.beatsarcoma.org.

Photos from Norcal Sailing

2008-07-03T11:00:00.001-07:00

The picture galleries from Norcal Sailing are UP! Check out http://www.norcalsailing.com/galleries.html
Sample below

BeatSarcoma thanks its volunteers at the Sarcoma Cup '08

2008-07-03T10:06:00.001-07:00

More offshore activities pictures available at www.Beatsarcoma.smugmug.com
100% of the proceeds from the sale of pictures go to BeatSarcoma

Sarcoma Cup '08 Photos

2008-07-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

From www.h20shots.com (c)2008
More available at: beatsarcoma.smugmug.com
100% of the proceeds from the sale of pictures go to BeatSarcoma

Sarcoma Cup - Regatta Chair's Address

2008-07-02T18:26:00.001-07:00

From Mark Lowry, Sarcoma Cup '08 Regatta Chair - Richmond Yacht Club.

2008 Sarcoma Cup

On Saturday June 28 Bay Area sailors were treated to the first racing day of the inaugural Sarcoma Cup Regatta with tight buoy racing action; and what a treat it was as the smokey haze from Norcal’s wild-fires gave way to some blue-sky and perfect sailing breezes. Four divisions raced 3 races each on the southern edge of the Berkeley Circle.

This regatta was the brain-child of Express 27 sailor, Nathalie Criou. Nat is a recent and very grateful survivor of a brush with sarcoma, a rare, little-understood, scarcely researched, and often deadly cancer. This encounter has inspired her to action, creating the non-profit BeatSarcoma, Inc., to raise awareness and research funding for this disease (see www.beatsarcoma.org for details). The Sarcoma Cup was designed to be a celebration of the sailing life and a fundraiser for the BeatSarcoma foundation.

The buoy courses were windward-leewards with separate starting and finishing lines located to leeward of the leeward mark with downwind finishes prescribed for all courses. This efficient arrangement gave the racers what they wanted: more racing and less waiting. Time between races clocked in at around 10 minutes. Fred Paxton’s all-star Richmond Yacht Club race committee set impeccably square lines and true courses and ran like the well-oiled race management machine that it is.

“The circle” often known for its near-nuclear conditions during prime summer wind season on the bay, was a kinder-gentler place for this event, with winds barely reaching15 knots until near the end of race 3 which might have seen a gust or two near 20. Nope, no 35 knot rig-bustin’ carnage on the circle here – we have it on good authority that RYC PRO Paxton may have exercised his well-known divine connections with the Wind Gods on this occasion to quell the circle beast, but perhaps that’s just a rumor. No matter, the wind was perfect, at the low end of the #3 for the Express 27s – easy sailing.

Division A (PHRF) was dominated by the RYC team aboard Peter Kreuger’s “Howl”, with 1-2-1 place finishes. 2^nd place in Division A went to Mark Howe’s “White Fang” of RYC and 3^rd place went to Glenn Isaacson’s “Q” of SFYC. 4^TH place went to Nick Barran’s new XL of RORC.

The Express 27 Division was beaten up by Tom Jenkin’s “Witchy Woman” team from Morrow Bay (1-1-2). Ray Lotto’s “El Raton” of StFYC won the tie-breaker over Eric Deed’s “Magic Bus” for 2^nd, with “Magic Bus” taking 3^rd. Mark Lowry’s Xena squeaked ahead of Phil Krasner’s “Wetsu” by one point to take 4^th.

The Olson 25 fleet mixed it up well with Mark Simpson’s “Shadowfax” taking 1^st and Tom Nemeth’s Clean Sweep taking 2^nd.

PHR Division E was led by a pair of venerable Santana 22s. 1^st place went to Tom Montoya’s “Meliki”, and 2^nd place went to Stephen Buckingham/Chris Giovacchini aboard “Tchoupitoulas”. 3^rd place fell to Bill West’s Wylie Cat 30 “Crinan II”.

After a very pleasant early afternoon of “all racing no waiting”, the fleet sailed up to the sunny docks of RYC on the “Richmond Riviera” in t-shirts and shorts to the strains of the very cool jazz band, ECQ, dock-side. To go with that jazz you were immediately offered a cool RYC/ Sarcoma Cup “Hurricane” Hunger pang? Hey we can fix that too, with a huge table of dockside appetizers… very tasty appetizers I might add. Sailors milled around on the docks listening to the great band, sipping cocktails, munching appetizers, lying about the races and leisurely putting their boats away. A great way to finish off the afternoon.

This very full day of regatta entertainment was completed with a sit-down evening buffet and an entertaining raffle-prize drawing followed by the second live band, Orquesta Gitano, who dished up salsa rhythms that had to be danced to… big fun !

Sunday’s main event was the pursuit race. This is a reverse handicap race in which the boats in all divisions are thrown together and compete as one fleet. The starting times are adjusted such that if all boats are perfectly handicapped and perfectly sailed they should all finish at the same time. The course started on the south side of the Berkeley Circle and took the fleet around Alcatraz (to starboard) and Angel (to starboard). The race began with the wind under 15 knots (comfortably within #1 range for the Express 27 fleet). Most of us were expecting that we would be pretty over-powered by the time we made Alcatraz, but that was not to be – more welcomed, mellow-weather surprises.

Those that wisely worked south first on the beat caught the ebb earliest and were first to round Alcatraz, this move proved to essentially decide the race. Tom Jenkin’s Express 27 “Witchy Woman” was the first to round Alcatraz, followed by Vaughn Seifer’s Moore 24 “Flying Tiger”, followed by Ray Lotto’s Express 27 “El Raton”, shortly followed by Mark Lowry’s Express 27 “Xena”.

The reach from Alcatraz to Angel was, as usual too close to carry the kite with most boats able to set just west of Angel. The majority of the fleet sought relieve from the ebb on the Marin Shore of Racoon Straights. This was the favored side for relief, mostly because it led you clear (more-or-less) of the dreaded lee of Angel. From here it was a straight-shot to the finish.

The three lead boats successfully held off the charge of the pursuing bigger and faster boats for an exciting finish: Tom Jenkins of the Express 27 “Witchy Women” took 1^st, with Ray Lotto’s Express 27 “El Raton” close behind in 2^nd, followed by Vaughn Seifer’s Moore 24 “Flying Tiger” in 3^rd. Peter Krueger’s “Howl” took 4^th as they rolled Mark Lowry’s 5^th place Express 27 “Xena” in the final 200 yards. Dan Pruzan’s Express 27 “Wile E. Coyote” held off the advance of pursuing boats for 6^th place.

From the finish, just off the Richmond Yacht Club breakwater, it was just a matter of dousing the kite and you would soon be kicking back with a glass of wine from the excellent selection in the complementary Sarcoma Cup dockside bar, or cold keg beer if you preferred, accompanied by great munchies. This had to have been the best complementary wine to be served at any Bay Area regatta (certainly in the 25 years of this observers experience). The opening entertainment for the afternoon’s dockside activities was the charity auction which featured some spirited bidding, pitting race course rivals against each other in seemingly fierce bidding wars, all in good-natured fun for a great cause.

Given the long list of dockside activities that we have reviewed, it’s hard to believe that we have missed one. But, we would be remiss in not mentioning that the festivities actually got started Friday evening with a slideshow presentation entitled “Whale Sinks Yacht – the Last Voyage of XL”. Nat presented a very absorbing account of the sinking of XL from her perspective as member of the delivery crew bringing the yacht back from a Pacific Cup race to Hawaii. Amazingly they were able to take quite a few photos to document the ordeal which made for a very interesting slide show.

The Sarcoma Cup featured stellar dock-side activities due to all the efforts of the BeatSarcoma volunteers and the efforts of many of the big-hearted stalwarts of the Richmond Yacht Club, including RYC’s first couple, Commodore Torben Bentzen and Judy Bentsen. And this event probably would not have happened without the support of RYC’s Standing Race Committee, Chaired by Gail Yando, and the support of RYC board of directors.

The inaugural Sarcoma Cup Regatta turned out to be a great combination of excellent sailing, very entertaining dockside activities, and significant benefit to a good cause as it raised over $10,000 for sarcoma research. For those of you that missed it this year, we hope to see you at the next one.

Sarcoma Cup T-shirts for sale

2008-07-02T13:56:00.001-07:00

Two options:
- long sleeve cotton
- short sleeve microfiber
- both at $15
- 100% of this goes to support Sarcoma research
- please contact the sarcoma cup team: sarcomacup@ (all addresses are beatsarcoma.org)

Sarcoma Cup

2008-07-02T10:46:00.001-07:00

We held the first ever Sarcoma Cup this weekend at Richmond Yacht Club and in the challenging waters of San Francisco Bay. We will post shortly a more detailed account of the event but I wanted to share a quick summary with all of you.

We haven't finalized the accounting but our first estimates indicate that we have raised over $10K at this inaugural event.

We have achieved a lot more.
- Andrew, the 16-year-old osteosarcoma patient to whom the regatta was dedicated volunteered at the event and will keep invaluable joyful memories of this experience
- One of our volunteers unexpectedly rediscovered the joys of sailing on Ay Caliente, a Beneteau
- Regatta participants discovered a very talented painter from a tiny nation in West Africa who contributed a beautiful painting to the charity auction. It is one of these rare connections that wouldn't have happened without the magic of this weekend
- A lot of people had an amazing weekend to share with their friends and family
- Many new friendships have started under the auspice of a weekend dedicated to life and hope
- Many people were given an opportunity to give and engage in a deeply rewarding activity. It can be so gratifying to generate a lot of smiley faces

The Sarcoma Cup itself is a beautiful and uncommon piece of work, but what else could best symbolize the richness of these moments.

You can read more about the sarcoma cup on the:

Stanford Patient News

Norcal Sailing

and see pictures of the regatta

This year's Sarcoma Cup will be sailed for Andrew

2008-06-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Participants in the Sarcoma Cup '08 will celebrate Andrew's courage. Andrew is a local junior sailor who was diagnosed at 15 with osteosarcoma in his left humerus in November 2007. Osteosarcoma is a form of hard-tissue sarcoma, arising in the bones. He began induction chemotherapy four days later. His initial MAP protocol involved 3 chemotherapy cycles of doxorubicin/cisplatin/methotrexate, followed by resection 'reverse total shoulder' reconstruction surgery on his left humerus and shoulder.

The surgery was quite successful and Andrew retains a fair amount of motion with his left arm.

After a 6-week recovery, he resumed another cycle of MAP chemo, then three cycles of Etoposide and Ifosfamide. He will participate in an clinical trial of R1507 starting the week of June 16 to help reduce his metastases. Andrew's protocol director is Dr. N. Marina, in pediatric hematology/oncology at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.

Andrew has always loved sailing, going out with friends on the SF Bay, to coastal sailing with Seacamp out of Santa Cruz, and Odyssey in the San Juans. His parents have been wanting to take him with Moorings to the British Virgins...He would be THRILLED to see his sailing family come out in numbers to show their support, as he will attend the event...and maybe even go out for a spin!

The Sarcoma Cup team is honored to have Andrew by its side to help build awareness for the tremendous need for funding for more sarcoma research, particularly for targeted therapies.

[Addendum Fall 2008 - Andrew passed away from osteosarcoma in October 2008. He was 17]

West Marine Fleet Night in pictures!

2008-06-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

BeatSarcoma and Team Sarcoma join forces

2008-06-12T12:09:00.001-07:00

The Pacific Cup initiative from BeatSarcoma is now part of the international Team Sarcoma effort - during the sarcoma awareness week. The team name is BeatSarcoma. The Team Sarcoma Initiative is an internationally coordinated set of events to raise awareness of sarcoma and raise funds to support sarcoma research, clinical trials and patients and family services. The initiative is an international Sarcoma Awareness Week as thousands of people will be taking part in over 70 events taking place in 14 countries during July 12-20, 2008.

You can find more information at http://www.team-sarcoma.net/.

We even have a Facebook page for this event!

Sarcoma Cup: List of Prizes & Notice of Race posted

2008-06-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

NOR

June 28 Saturday Online Registration - Click Here
Registered Competitors

June 29 Sunday Online Registration - Click Here
Registered Competitors

Off Water Activities

List of Prizes

Set up your boat fundraising page in under 5 minutes or donate directly at:
http://www.active.com/donate/sarcomacup08

Sarcoma Cup Event Schedule - June 28 & 29

2008-06-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

Don’t miss out on the entertainment we have planned for you!

All proceeds go to BeatSarcoma

You can also create your fundraising page in under five minutes at http://www.active.com/donate/sarcomacup08

Round up your friends and family and win $100 West Marine certificate!

Friday, June 27^th
1200	Participating yachts are welcome to begin rafting at the Richmond YC.
1930	West Marine Fleet Night Draw Anyone who spent more than $100 at the West Marine Fleet Night, June 19^th, will be entered in a draw to win an ‘Elise’ fleece and a $75 gift certificate from West Marine “Whale Sinks Yacht – the Last Voyage of XL” Slideshow following the regular RYC dinner. Come hear a first hand account of this trans-Pacific adventure. A discretionary donation is requested for those attending the slideshow. Visiting sailors may purchase guest dinner tickets and attend the slideshow.
Saturday, June 28^th
0800	Free gourmet coffee and pastries. Gin fizzes available dockside Race T-shirts are available for purchase and goodie bags will be distributed to each skipper, along with various freebies and one free drink coupon for each of your crew. These will be redeemable after the race on Saturday at any of the auxiliary bars. Gin fizzes will be available for $2.
1100	Mark Racing The first warning off Southampton and 3 buoy races to follow. Peak wind season and orchestrated by Fred Paxton. Win your personal trophy and some cool awards. Bring a digital camera and capture precious moments onboard. We’ll have the children vote on the funniest one! Enjoy!
1300	Intro to Improv for Kids Enjoy a fun improvisation theater class, led by Amy Houtrow, Sunday Player at BATS Improv (www.batsimprov.org) Tickets: $2 Tickets available for purchase at the Welcome table.
1500	Live Jazz, appetizers, punch and beer Come back to a live jazz band, ECQ – redeem your free drink coupons and treat yourself to a glass of rum punch or beer, while savoring a few appetizers. Race t-shirts, sailing photos taken by Jonathan Fujirawa and off-the-water surprise moments captured by David Ruiz will be available for purchase. You can also buy an auction ticket for the Sunday charity auction, and raffle tickets for the party!
1800	Authentic Italian dinner and slideshow featuring YOUR pictures Win a North Sails hat! Delight your palate with an authentic Italian pasta dinner, with three different kinds of pasta, a caesar salad, French bread on the side and cookies to top it off – everything prepared by Michael, RYC’s excellent chef. Secure your dinner ticket in advance and avoid the line: online tickets are only $14 Vs. $15 at the door ($12 for children). Bring your race pictures to upload and share in a slideshow of the day’s events. The funniest picture, as voted by all the children, will win its author a nice North Sails hat.
1830	Shake it to live Salsa delivered to you by Orquesta Gitano Win an inflatable PFD at the Sarcoma Cup Raffle! The party continues with more live music, and the exciting raffle drawing. Get in the running for UK Halsey Sails backpacks and hats, sailing books “Endurance by F.A Worsley, author of Shackleton’s Boat Journey”, an ‘Elise’ dri-mesh T-shirt and other books
Sunday, June 29^th
0800	Pancake breakfast Sailor’s Pancake breakfast will be served for $5 until 0930. T-shirts and auction tickets available for purchase.
See individual start times	Pursuit Race Get on the water for the pursuit race – bring your camera and show off your crew. Laughing guaranteed…You will be able to upload your pictures via the Sarcoma Cup website after the race.
ASAP after the race	Drinks and charity auction Meet after the race for drinks at Richmond YC. Race T-shirts and sailing photos brought to you by H20Shots (Erik Simonson) are available for purchase. Preview the high value prizes for the charity auction to follow the awards ceremony. Fleece, Binoculars, Navigation equipment, PFD, painting and photography, grappa, etc…
ASAP after the charity auction	Award Ceremony Bring the Sarcoma Cup back to your Club! Awards ceremony at RYC. Enjoy a glass of wine from our specialty bar and admire the perpetual trophy, exclusively made for the Sarcoma Cup by master woodturner and sailor Jerry Kermode. Exquisite hand carved trophies and watertight Stowey Bags offered by Dan of all Trades are awarded to the winners of each division.

This event could not happen without the generosity of our partners.

More detail and registration at: http://www.beatsarcoma.org/Sarcoma_Cup.html

Fleet Night at West Marine - June 19th

2008-05-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

Support Fleet Night – Benefiting BeatSarcoma
Thursday, June 19th from 4:00-7:30pm

5% of all fleet night sales at the West Marine location in Richmond,
will go to the BeatSarcoma Foundation

Everyone who spends more than $100 at fleet night will be entered in a drawing for an 'Elise' fleece jacket and a $75 West Marine gift certificate. Drawing will take place at the Sarcoma Cup

Store Location: 501 West Canal Blvd. Suite D
Richmond, CA 94804
(510) 965-9922

The Birth of the Sarcoma Cup

2008-05-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

Nat's story has inspired people to contribute their unique talents to the regatta. Arborist Dan Ratner collaborated on the base that displays the trophy cup with woodworkers Vaughn Tan and Celia Saino. Celia said, "Dan and I called master woodturners Jerry and Debbie Kermode to ask for help turning the walnut burl into a beautiful trophy cup.

The Kermodes are avid windsurfers and had recently lost a close friend to cancer. After hearing Nat's story, Jerry said, 'You hit all the right buttons' and agreed to meet the following week to create the trophy in his Sebastopol studio.

The wood for the Sarcoma Cup was salvaged from a local California claro walnut tree and donated by Dan Ratner.

Dan, owner of Dan of all Trades - at work with the Master.

The Cup now eagerly awaits the Sarcoma Cup regatta, held on San Francisco Bay, on June 28 & 29.

Latitude 38 Article about the Sarcoma Cup

2008-05-14T22:00:00.001-07:00

http://app4.websitetonight.com/projects/5/1/0/6/510651/uploads/Sarcoma_Cup_Racing_Sheet_1-08-2.pdf

Code 3 For a Cure

2008-05-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

http://code3foracure.com/

CODE 3 FOR A CURE is a mission of hope that will begin on June 13, 2008, when a crew of firefighters will drive a fire engine, courtesy of Sutphen Corporation, from California to New York.

The CODE 3 crew will stop at various fire departments along the way to collect the names of fallen firefighters (both active and retired) who have lost their lives due to cancer. Those names will be read at the crossroads of the world, Times Square. A fire bell mounted on the fire engine will ring out once for each name called. This process will be repeated upon their return trip to California, when they will stop at fire departments along that route, collecting additional names. Upon their arrival back home to California, they will end their journey by reading off all the names collected along their 6,800 mile round-trip journey.

By honoring their comrades across the nation who have passed away from cancer, the firefighters hope to bring awareness of how widespread cancer is, among firefighters in particular. Their ultimate goal is to find a cure for ALL cancers so that NO ONE has to suffer from the agony of this disease and the grief it leaves behind. To this end, the firefighters will be encouraging donations to the non-profit organizations that relentlessly wage the war against cancer day after day. They will do this by posting contact information for the non-profit organizations on the sides of the fire apparatus for all to see as they make their way across the United States. They are asking all the people across the country who see them on the road to make a donation directly to a non-profit organization of their choice.

Code 3 for a Cure was founded by Lorenzo Abundiz, who was forced to retire from the Santa Ana Fire Department because of cancer and the complications associated with it. Lorenzo has fought two types of cancer over the past ten years. The first was a high grade sarcoma and the second was bladder cancer. He was diagnosed with the second cancer just one month after he had been declared cured from the sarcoma after a five-year window. This year (2008) marks the end of Lorenzo’s long, ten-year battle with cancer that began in 1998, and thus he felt compelled to organize this mission. Its main purpose is four-fold: to honor his comrades in the fire service who have lost their lives due to cancer (whether they were active or retired), because it was they who paved the way, through their service and sacrifice, to the safer equipment and procedures used by the firefighters of today; raise awareness about firefighting related cancers; give hope, support and encouragement to firefighters and others who are fighting their own personal battle against cancer and in so doing let them know they are not alone; and help find a cure for ALL cancers by encouraging contributions to the non-profit agencies who are waging the war against this hidden enemy and who support the families of those who have fallen.

Nick Barran donates the proceeds from his sailing article to BeatSarcoma

2008-05-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

Nick Barran is a veteran sailor with considerable offshore experience. His boat, the ILC 40 Mureadritta's XL competed in the 2006 Pacific Cup. Nat, our founder was helping Nick deliver his boat back to San Francisco from Hawaii, after the race, when a sperm whale rammed into the yacht and sank it, 500 nautical miles North of Hawaii.

Nick was extremely well prepared for such an emergency - he had all the required communication and evacuation equipment. The crew drifted for a day on a liferaft before being picked up by a container ship. Everyone made it safely back to land a few days later, and the experience created strong bonds between the crew of four: Nick, James, David and Nat.

Nick's superb seamanship could serve as a model for many a-sailors to come and he shared his experience through an article for Cruising World. You can find more information on the Cruising World website.

http://www.cruisingworld.com/capable-cruising/voyaging/distress-call-from-xl-54987.html
http://www.cruisingworld.com/capable-cruising/voyaging/be-prepared-should-be-everyones-motto-43479.html

Nick donated 100% of his compensation as a guest writer to BeatSarcoma, and the Cruising World editor kindly added a mention of Nat's fight to alert its readers to the cause. In his words, he would do 'anything to help'.

Like Nick, you can inspire others and build on something that you like doing, or do routinely to raise awareness of sarcoma, or contribute funds to research. Everything counts, there is no such thing as a small gesture - everything is grand on the scale of generosity.

On behalf of all sarcoma sufferers, their caregivers and the research and medical community that supports them, thank you Nick!

Registration for the Sarcoma Cup is Open

2008-05-10T11:05:00.001-07:00

http://beatsarcoma.org/Sarcoma_Cup.html

June 28 online Registration - Click Here
Saturday Registered Competitors

June 29 online Registration - Click Here

Sunday Registered Competitors

Not racing? Come support the event with a dinner and an auction
Sat. Dinner $14 Adults/ $12 Children and Sunday auction tickets $1
Saturday dinner tickets will be $15 at the door.

You can set up your boat fundraising page or donate here.

Looking for crew or looking to crew? Note: OCSC, BeatSarcoma's partner on the Pacific Cup 2008 will help match advanced students with skippers.
You can fill out this form. Or check the crewlist. Or contact us

Sponsors

Pasha Haiwan Transportation Lines is our Ocean Level sponsor

Bay Level Sponsor:

Lake Level Sponsor: