Tina Fey Announced as 2009 Light The Night Walk National Spokesperson

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is excited to announce that actress Tina Fey is lending her face and fame to help in the fight against blood cancers as the 2009 National Spokesperson for the LLS Light The Night Walk.

Tina Fey is an American writer, comedian, actress, and producer. She has won five Emmys, three Golden Globes, and three SAG Awards. Fey is best known for her work on Mean Girls, Saturday Night Live, her impersonation of Alaskan Governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and her work on 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at Saturday Night Live. Fey was also selected by Barbara Walters as one of America’s “10 most fascinating people of 2008.”

As National Spokesperson for the 2009 Light The Night Walk, Fey urges communities to “Walk the Talk” and join the fight against blood cancer through Light The Night Walks happening this fall across the country. “When you or someone you love has cancer, it can turn your world upside down and leave you in a dark and lonely place,” says Fey. “But there’s something you can do to bring light and hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers and their families. You can participate in Light The Night Walk and raise funds for lifesaving cancer research.”

Walks take place in communities across the U.S. and Canada, as walkers and teams of families, friends and co-workers come together for an evening overflowing with emotion and caring. The Light The Night Walk is open to the public. Teams and individuals are encouraged to pre-register and raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society throughout the summer months preceding the Walk. The funds will support vital life-saving research and patient services to support the nearly 900,000 Americans living with blood cancers.

More than a Walk, Light The Night includes music, entertainment, food and children’s activities for everyone to enjoy. Walkers carry illuminated balloons to spread awareness about the need to fund research to find a cure for blood cancer. Supporters carry red balloons, survivors carry white, and those who have lost a loved one to cancer carry a gold balloon in their memory. The event is supported by many local businesses who form Walk teams or offer corporate sponsorship. Corporate sponsorship and in-kind food donation packages that include a variety of marketing benefits are available. You can join Friends of Heroes and start making a difference today! For more information about the Light The Night Walk and how to participate, visit www.LightTheNight.org.

About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Eastern N.C. Chapter serves patients battling leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. The organization raises money to fund research leading to a cure for blood cancers and to enhance the quality of life for local patients through services such as family support groups, educational programs and financial assistance. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. For more information about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, visit www.lls.org.

Meet our 2009 Friends of Heroes Co-Captians

We are very excited to announce the 2009 Friends of Heroes team co-captains: Carole Franklyn and Beck Marko!

“Both Carole and Beck have been extremely helpful and supportive over the years. I am confident the team will advance under their leadership!” said Jennifer Burgess, National Co-captain 2007 & 2008

Please join us in welcoming Carole and Beck! They are both so honored to help lead such an amazing team.

Meet Carole Franklyn

“I am a married mom of two: Makenna is 8 and Aidan is 4. I live in Virginia , about 20 miles outside of Washington , DC . I work fulltime as an HR Specialist and Executive Assistant for a healthcare management company. Besides FOH, I love to read, be with my kids and volunteer at their schools. I am also active with CancerWarriors and been a proud sponsor of three kids: Amazing Jacob (an angel in Heaven), McKayla (OT 2+ yrs) and Princess Chloe (OT 6 months) who I got to meet in person! Last year, I was on my local LTN committee, but decided that this year I would devote my time to FOH.

“My son was born in June 2004 and while I was home on maternity leave, I discovered BabyCenter and through that, Allie’s story. I have been a member of Friends of Heroes since before it was Allie’s Angels. That little girl, and the many other children since her, have touched me in a way I never could have predicted – maybe because I had young children or maybe because I was looking for something “more” in my life. Whatever the reason, FOH has found a place in my heart.

“Over the past three years, I have become more and more involved in FOH. I started out on the Task Force and have moved up to my current position. I am looking forward to many great things from FOH this year! Most importantly, I’d like to spread the word about us as well as increase the involvement from all of you. It takes all of us to make FOH a success!”

Now meet Beck Marko

“I am Beck, a stay at home mom of three kiddos ages five, four and three years old, and I have been happily married for 7 1/2 years to my husband Vince.  Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has been a huge part of my life since I first read about baby Allie on her family’s web page.  I chose from that day forward that I would make it my job to do as much as I can to help find the cure for cancer.

“Since then I have served on several committees including 2004-2008 Northern Nevada Man Women and Celebrity of the year events, I chaired the 2007 Northern Nevada Light the Night walk, I have also served three years on the Friends of Heroes planning team.  In 2007  I was a task force teammate, 2008 I was in charge of social networks and then I was honored with the chance to work along side Carole as a co-captain to such a wonderful team in 2009.

“I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet so many wonderful people and can’t wait to make 2009 a WONDERFUL year!!!!! Outside of Friends of Heroes, I love to make homemade soaps, crafts, teaching Sunday school at our church and just being a mama.”

More About National Co-captains

After the unprecedented fundraising success and teamwork of Friends of Heroes (then Allie’s Angels ’04 and Friends of Allie ’05), a succession plan was created to ensure the future of Friends of Heroes. This plan provided for two national co-captains and a team leader committee.

Friends of Heroes National Co-Captains are passionate about the LLS mission and devote much of their spare time to help the team. As a co-captain, they serve a two-year term and draw from their previous experience as national team leaders. Typically, the co-captain terms are staggered to provide continuity and to enable them to share and pass on their experience. Since a new co-captain was not installed in 2008, two new co-captains will lead Friends of Heroes in 2009.

Light The Night – Doing Our Best to Make a Difference

All too often we hear too much negative in our lives. We hear about crime, financial troubles, and so on. You can go to your e-mail and read about the new virus going around… those silly e-mails telling you that if you don’t forward it, your computer is going to blow up. It all seems so negative.

However, I still feel great inside knowing that we are taking a part as a large team and spreading some good news for a change. We are less than $4,000 away from $1,000,000 earned! That is a HUGE milestone! Something that we have been working hard on for the last 4 years!

It is truly amazing how a group of strangers can come together as a family and complete such a task. That is what Friends of Heroes is all about. We are a family…though many of us have never met. We are still linked together with a passion for a cure….the cure for cancer. We have grieved together, smiled together, and I know that there have been a few laughs in there as well.

You HAVE made a difference.

The first year that we started I looked at my fundraising and thought “I only made $50”….the dreaded word “only”. It should have been a positive “I made $50 and a HUGE difference”. Looking at it today, that $50 made us closer to a cure and to where our team is now.

As a team, I KNOW that we can make it well over $1,000,000! We just need that final push. We are all here to support each other. My five-year-old daughter gave me a quote to live by several months ago and I just keep repeating it when I feel discouraged “You know, just try your best because that is what we are made to do”. I know that we can do that. I know we can do our best. I can say this with all of my heart.

I hope in the near future, we won’t be here fighting for the cure for cancer, because we already helped find the cure! We will be here CELEBRATING the cure! But until that day, let’s stick together, fight for a cure and have fun in the process!

Written by Beck M.
Pictured above with Kelly, her Light The Night executive director, after receiving the Volunteer of the Year Award.

Light The Night Walks – Week 1

This weekend (Sept 5-7, 2008) we are sending a shout out to our friends up north! The following Light The Night walks will take place in:

It is not to late to join us! We need you! Register to walk with Friends of Heroes at http://teams.lightthenight.org/friendsofheroes

For a full list of Light The Night Walks, visit here.

Next week (Sept 10-14, 2008) we’ll be cheering for our walkers in 18 more cities:

Remember – you can raise money until November (even after your walk is over)!

Lighting The Night – a Decade of Difference

This year we commemorate the tenth year of Light The Night walks which honor blood cancer patients in 230 cities across North America.

This week we embark on the first of ten weeks of Light The Nights and celebrate the $39 million dollars raised for blood cancer research and patient services.

Through The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, great strides have made “A Decade of Difference”. In the past 10 years:

• Nearly half a million patients and their caretakers have called the LLS Information Resource Center and received critical information about blood cancers, therapy options and issues surrounding treatment and survival.
• Nearly $40 million was disbursed to patients through the LLS Patient Assistance program to help them get the treatment they needed to fight their cancer.
• Over 100,000 patients and family members found comfort and hope through LLS First Connection and Family Support Groups.
• LLS granted $425 million to more than 400 scientists searching for cures and improved treatments for patients.
• LLS funding contributed to the development of a host of new drugs that are affecting patient survival and quality of life.
• LLS-funded researchers began working in novel areas that hold great promise for finding cures and better treatments including new, less toxic stem cell transplants, immunotherapies and other targeted therapies.
• Our Advocacy Network has successfully supported pro-patient legislation that will:
  • Help advance blood cancer research
  • Extend Medicare coverage to include oral anti-cancer drugs
  • Help fund efforts to reach underserved blood cancer patients

From: lightthenight.org

Team Friends of Heroes is proud to be a part of this tremendous cause to find a cure for blood cancers and to make a difference in the lives of patients through the free services offered by LLS!

Blood cancers can strike at any time to people of all ages, ethnicities and degrees of health. We continue to raise funds and awareness for a cure to be found and so that families do not have to lose loved ones to these diseases.

Your support is vital in this effort! Please join us by registering for our team or donating towards our cause!

Visit http://teams.lightthenight.org/friendsofheroes to start making a difference today!

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Did you know?

The Facts of Childhood Cancer

• Cancer remains the number one disease that claims the lives of our children. Each year cancer kills more children under the age of 20 than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and AIDS combined.
• Each year in the U.S., approximately 12,500 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer. That’s the equivalent of two average size classrooms diagnosed each school day.
• Today, nearly 80 percent of children diagnosed with cancer become long-term survivors and the majority of them are considered cured. In the early 1950s, less than 10 percent of childhood cancer patients could be cured.
• Leukemias, tumors of the brain and nervous system, the lymphatic system, kidneys, bones and muscles are the most common childhood cancers.
• In the U.S., cancer remains responsible for more deaths from one year through adolescence than any other disease; more deaths than asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis and AIDS combined.
• Combined, the cancers of children, adolescents and young adults to age 20 are the sixth most common cancer in the U.S.
• Breakthroughs in pediatric oncology will undoubtedly continue to progress the diagnosis and treatment of adult cancers. Many of the principles in therapy used today in treating adults were first developed and tested for children.

With the kick of off so many Light the night walks this month, what better way to pay tribute to Childhood Cancer than to join your local team and start raising money. Together we can find a cure!

Also in honor of Childhood cancer awareness month Chili’s will be offering a couple of ways you can contribute. You can go any day and donate any amount and they will give you a chili pepper coloring sheet that you or your kids can design and color. Also, on the 29th, they will be donating all the proceeds from that day to St. Jude’s. So enjoy a night out, eating great food while supporting a great cause.  the Chili’s