Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Man and Woman of the Year and what I meant to say....
Last Friday, the LLS held its annual Man and Woman of the Year event. This was my third consecutive year to chair this event and given the economic conditions we're currently dealing with, we had a pretty solid campaign raising over $203,000!! A big thanks goes out to the candidates and all the folks who supported their efforts.
As chair, I always get the opportunity to talk about why I'm involved with the LLS. I try to do this without writing things down, I like to speak from the heart. While I feel I did a pretty good job of conveying my message on Friday, there were a couple things that slipped my mind...so here is what I meant to say, in written form - from the heart....
"I'm sure we all have our reason's for being here tonight. My reasons would appear to be fairly simple. First, my wife's brother, Dan Riestenberg, lost his battle with non Hodgkins Lymphoma back in 1998. As a result, his wife (my sister-in-law) Marian Riestenberg got involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and in 2003 she asked me to be a candidate for the Man of the Year campaign. I was very proud of Marian for getting involved with the LLS so to honor her and Dan I agreed to be a candidate. I was fortunate enought to win that year and I too became very involved with the Society. Then, in 2005, I was thrown quite a curveball when I was diagnosed with a form of NHL myself called Follicular Lymphoma. So on the surface you can see my reasons for being here strike very close to home.
But if you take a closer look, there are really many other reasons why I'm here tonight. I'm here because of those wonderful families who founded the Leukemia Society back in 1949. I'm here because of the thousands and thousands of volunteers who have supported the Society for nearly 60 years. And I'm here because of the millions and millions of dollars raised through Man and Woman of the Year, Light the Night and countless Team in Training events to support crucial research efforts. Without these events and these volunteers and this Society its very possible the funds needed to develop the treatments I needed may not have been available. I'm keenly aware of the fact that I am here because so many people unselfishly gave their time, talents and treasures to support people fighting blood-related cancers.
I attended The Ohio State University and when I was there the head football coach was a man by the name of Woody Hayes. I used to go to Woody's pep rallys during football season - he would get you so fired up that you would be ready to run through a brick wall. And many times he talked about anything but football; he'd talk about the importance of education, religion and family. One night his message touched me like none other; he talked about 'paying it forward'. He said you have no idea how many people have put you in the position you are in today and it's up to you 'pay it forward' for the generations who will follow you. That's why I'm here tonight; I'm here to 'pay it forward'.
I'm a big Broadway musical fan and one of my favorite plays is 'Wicked'. There's a song at the end of the play where the two witches sing about what each of them have meant to each other and the opening line of that song, I believe, truly captures the human spirit and why we're all here tonight. It goes something like this...I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them, and we help them in return. We're all here to learn from each other, we're all here to help each other. And together we can help the LLS put an end to all blood-related cancers. I'm in this for the long run. 50% cure rates are far better than the cure rates in 1949 but it's not 100%. We can cure 90% of the children diagnosed with ALL but that means 10% of these kids losing their fight. We can't accept that. Until we can say the cure rate is 100% we have to keep holding events like this one. We have to be relentless! We need to spread the word about the work the LLS does and get more and more people involved. I truly believe we will find the cures and I can't think of a more awesome headline then opening up the Cincinnati Enquirer and seeing in big, bold type...LEUKEMIA CURED, LYMPHOMA CURED. That's a headline we'll all celebrate and what a wonderful way it will be for us to 'pay it forward'!
Peace and blessings to all!
As chair, I always get the opportunity to talk about why I'm involved with the LLS. I try to do this without writing things down, I like to speak from the heart. While I feel I did a pretty good job of conveying my message on Friday, there were a couple things that slipped my mind...so here is what I meant to say, in written form - from the heart....
"I'm sure we all have our reason's for being here tonight. My reasons would appear to be fairly simple. First, my wife's brother, Dan Riestenberg, lost his battle with non Hodgkins Lymphoma back in 1998. As a result, his wife (my sister-in-law) Marian Riestenberg got involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and in 2003 she asked me to be a candidate for the Man of the Year campaign. I was very proud of Marian for getting involved with the LLS so to honor her and Dan I agreed to be a candidate. I was fortunate enought to win that year and I too became very involved with the Society. Then, in 2005, I was thrown quite a curveball when I was diagnosed with a form of NHL myself called Follicular Lymphoma. So on the surface you can see my reasons for being here strike very close to home.
But if you take a closer look, there are really many other reasons why I'm here tonight. I'm here because of those wonderful families who founded the Leukemia Society back in 1949. I'm here because of the thousands and thousands of volunteers who have supported the Society for nearly 60 years. And I'm here because of the millions and millions of dollars raised through Man and Woman of the Year, Light the Night and countless Team in Training events to support crucial research efforts. Without these events and these volunteers and this Society its very possible the funds needed to develop the treatments I needed may not have been available. I'm keenly aware of the fact that I am here because so many people unselfishly gave their time, talents and treasures to support people fighting blood-related cancers.
I attended The Ohio State University and when I was there the head football coach was a man by the name of Woody Hayes. I used to go to Woody's pep rallys during football season - he would get you so fired up that you would be ready to run through a brick wall. And many times he talked about anything but football; he'd talk about the importance of education, religion and family. One night his message touched me like none other; he talked about 'paying it forward'. He said you have no idea how many people have put you in the position you are in today and it's up to you 'pay it forward' for the generations who will follow you. That's why I'm here tonight; I'm here to 'pay it forward'.
I'm a big Broadway musical fan and one of my favorite plays is 'Wicked'. There's a song at the end of the play where the two witches sing about what each of them have meant to each other and the opening line of that song, I believe, truly captures the human spirit and why we're all here tonight. It goes something like this...I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them, and we help them in return. We're all here to learn from each other, we're all here to help each other. And together we can help the LLS put an end to all blood-related cancers. I'm in this for the long run. 50% cure rates are far better than the cure rates in 1949 but it's not 100%. We can cure 90% of the children diagnosed with ALL but that means 10% of these kids losing their fight. We can't accept that. Until we can say the cure rate is 100% we have to keep holding events like this one. We have to be relentless! We need to spread the word about the work the LLS does and get more and more people involved. I truly believe we will find the cures and I can't think of a more awesome headline then opening up the Cincinnati Enquirer and seeing in big, bold type...LEUKEMIA CURED, LYMPHOMA CURED. That's a headline we'll all celebrate and what a wonderful way it will be for us to 'pay it forward'!
Peace and blessings to all!
# posted by Vince Hopkins @ 10:55 AM 
