The Third Annual Jonathan B. Loden Memorial Golf Tournament- September 26, 2008
The original date of the Third Annual Jonathan B. Loden Golf Tournament was September 26, 2008 at Turf Valley Country Club in Ellicott City, MD. Unfortunately, the day before brought a Nor’Easter weather system roaring up the East Coast, and the club strongly suggested that we cancel on Thursday, September 25th to give most players a heads up before they made the trip here for nothing. Several players were already here, however, the majority being relatives from out of town .They were able to get in a round of golf in Jonathan’s honor on Friday anyway. It was a nasty day, but did not rain as much as anticipated.
The rain date was October 24th, 2008, and even though some of the out-of-towners could not make the second trip, we had 116 golfers join us that day. The sun did not make much of an appearance, and as the day progressed the wind picked up and the temperature went down, but that did not stop our golfers and volunteers from enjoying themselves for a good cause.
The Loden family would like to thank out tireless volunteers on the day of the tournament...Felicia Farace, Judy Haarer, DyAnn Moree’, Vicky Norton, Doug Norton,Sherry Phillips, Kendall Skirven and Jen Trenary. They were under the direction of our volunteer coordinator, Sandy Cornelius, who kept us all on track, knowing where we needed to be and why. Scheduling conflicts with work prevented some of our regular volunteers ,Jenny Cornelius, Janice Trenary and Courtney Spencer, from joining us on October 24th but I know that they will be back next year! Courtney and her brother Chip Spencer were, however, instrumental in acquiring most of our prizes and gift certificates for the awards ceremony, starting back in the spring..…and we are in their debt for their hard work. Matt Roney also used his powers of persuasion to get some excellent restaurant gift certificates donated as well. A special nod always goes to Michele Mursch, who provides the Coke products every year. All of these people help us make the tournament a success every year; it would not be possible without them!
Winners
We added new categories this year by allowing three winners in the longest drive- women, over 40 and under 40.
Jonathan’s doctor at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Arlene Forastiere, was scheduled to speak on the original date, but, unfortunately, was out of the country on October 24th. Kyleigh Helfrich was gracious enough to spend the entire day with us representing Dr. Forastiere and even brought her clubs and rounded out a foursome….she was a really good sport! Her speech at the awards ceremony was heartfelt and explained why we do what we do and how important it is that we continue to have this tournament every year in Jonathan’s memory. It has been included below.
Thank you, golfers and volunteers for braving the elements on October 24th at Turf Valley for the Third Annual Jonathan B. Loden Golf Tournament. See you in 2009!
Remarks by Kyleigh Helfrich
October 24, 2008
Good afternoon, my name is Kyleigh Helfrich and I am the Associate Director of Development at the Cancer Center. On behalf of Dr. Arlene Forastiere Professor of Oncology, and Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, and Radiation Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, I thank you for your wonderful generosity today.
Dr. Forastiere is currently out of the country but wanted me to speak on her behalf. She is extraordinarily grateful to you all for what you are doing here today. The funds that you raised over the last couple of years and those from today’s golf outing in Jon’s memory are very important for us to make progress both in preventing head and neck cancer and in finding more effective treatments. The current state of the economy is making it harder and harder for us to raise money for research and the cancer research budget gets cut more each year so we are TRULY grateful for your generosity.
I wanted to share with you some of the advances that have occurred in the area of head and neck cancer –
A new gene that is critical to allowing normal cells develop into a head and neck cancer and other cancers has been discovered by the Head and Neck Cancer Research Division. We are building on this finding to develop methods to inhibit this gene from expressing itself so that we can reverse the process of cancer development.
Over the last several years, we have been studying new biological markers that help us to individualize treatment and to predict how aggressive a head and neck cancer is so the therapy can be matched to the characteristics of the cancer, rather than treating everyone the same. These markers are specific proteins made in excess by the head and neck cancer cells and they signal the cells to keep growing. Our pathologists can test for these markers on tumor obtained from a biopsy. We can then use this information to select a drug therapy that will shut down the cancer cell’s ability to make these proteins and cause the cell to die. Another type of biologic drug will stop the growth of very tiny blood vessels that are essential for the cancer to grow and to spread to other areas of the body. We are studying the best way to combine two or more of these biologic therapies to stop a cancer that is no longer curable from continuing to grow. In the future this will mean that cancer is like diabetes and can be controlled for a long time even if it can’t be completely eradicated. We are also conducting research on how best to combine these new therapies with our standard chemotherapy and radiation to cure more patients who have a new diagnosis of head and neck cancer.
Our laboratory has been instrumental in establishing that the modification of DNA through an increase in the epigenetic methylation of cytosine and adenosine residues in DNA (hypermethylation) plays a key role in forming human cancer.
Our research group has also shown that a virus, the human papilloma virus (HPV), is a cause of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that is increasingly being diagnosed in both men and women under 50 years old in the United States. This opens many avenues for development of tumor vaccines, tumor detection, and novel therapies.
Most importantly, all of these new findings from our laboratories and from patient clinical trials are on the cusp of making a real change in how we treat patients. Dr. Forastiere’s team is energized by some of the recent breakthoughs and every day they tell me they feel closer to a cure. It is your help in raising money for research through this event in memory of Jon that makes the difference in the speed at which these findings become the standard of care.
On many occasions, Dr. Forastiere has told me what an amazing person Jon was. How she was honored to treat him and truly touched to be included in your golf tournament. Thank you all so very much.
The rain date was October 24th, 2008, and even though some of the out-of-towners could not make the second trip, we had 116 golfers join us that day. The sun did not make much of an appearance, and as the day progressed the wind picked up and the temperature went down, but that did not stop our golfers and volunteers from enjoying themselves for a good cause.
The Loden family would like to thank out tireless volunteers on the day of the tournament...Felicia Farace, Judy Haarer, DyAnn Moree’, Vicky Norton, Doug Norton,Sherry Phillips, Kendall Skirven and Jen Trenary. They were under the direction of our volunteer coordinator, Sandy Cornelius, who kept us all on track, knowing where we needed to be and why. Scheduling conflicts with work prevented some of our regular volunteers ,Jenny Cornelius, Janice Trenary and Courtney Spencer, from joining us on October 24th but I know that they will be back next year! Courtney and her brother Chip Spencer were, however, instrumental in acquiring most of our prizes and gift certificates for the awards ceremony, starting back in the spring..…and we are in their debt for their hard work. Matt Roney also used his powers of persuasion to get some excellent restaurant gift certificates donated as well. A special nod always goes to Michele Mursch, who provides the Coke products every year. All of these people help us make the tournament a success every year; it would not be possible without them!
Winners
- 1st Place: Tiger’s Poor Cousins..Andy Lombardo, Brian Lombardo and Justin Garwood
- Second place, Team Bouthner , was also our second place finisher in 2006. Rob Bouthner, Bryan Bouthner and Jeff Hutchins were joined by Erica Loden, filling in the foursome at the last minute to play with her brothers.
- Last place, but first in our hearts, went to Al’s Pals..Al Wheltle, Fred Keepers, Asa Grammer and George Sherry
We added new categories this year by allowing three winners in the longest drive- women, over 40 and under 40.
- Longest Drive Women: Steph Havard took the honors for the women,
- Longest Drive Over 40: Thomas Stein
- Longest Drive Under 40: Kevin Mursch
- Closest to the Pin Hole #3: Steve Johnson
- Closest to the Pin Hole #8: John LaHart
- Closest to the line on Hole #5: Lisa Hendricks
Jonathan’s doctor at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Arlene Forastiere, was scheduled to speak on the original date, but, unfortunately, was out of the country on October 24th. Kyleigh Helfrich was gracious enough to spend the entire day with us representing Dr. Forastiere and even brought her clubs and rounded out a foursome….she was a really good sport! Her speech at the awards ceremony was heartfelt and explained why we do what we do and how important it is that we continue to have this tournament every year in Jonathan’s memory. It has been included below.
Thank you, golfers and volunteers for braving the elements on October 24th at Turf Valley for the Third Annual Jonathan B. Loden Golf Tournament. See you in 2009!
Remarks by Kyleigh Helfrich
October 24, 2008
Good afternoon, my name is Kyleigh Helfrich and I am the Associate Director of Development at the Cancer Center. On behalf of Dr. Arlene Forastiere Professor of Oncology, and Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, and Radiation Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, I thank you for your wonderful generosity today.
Dr. Forastiere is currently out of the country but wanted me to speak on her behalf. She is extraordinarily grateful to you all for what you are doing here today. The funds that you raised over the last couple of years and those from today’s golf outing in Jon’s memory are very important for us to make progress both in preventing head and neck cancer and in finding more effective treatments. The current state of the economy is making it harder and harder for us to raise money for research and the cancer research budget gets cut more each year so we are TRULY grateful for your generosity.
I wanted to share with you some of the advances that have occurred in the area of head and neck cancer –
A new gene that is critical to allowing normal cells develop into a head and neck cancer and other cancers has been discovered by the Head and Neck Cancer Research Division. We are building on this finding to develop methods to inhibit this gene from expressing itself so that we can reverse the process of cancer development.
Over the last several years, we have been studying new biological markers that help us to individualize treatment and to predict how aggressive a head and neck cancer is so the therapy can be matched to the characteristics of the cancer, rather than treating everyone the same. These markers are specific proteins made in excess by the head and neck cancer cells and they signal the cells to keep growing. Our pathologists can test for these markers on tumor obtained from a biopsy. We can then use this information to select a drug therapy that will shut down the cancer cell’s ability to make these proteins and cause the cell to die. Another type of biologic drug will stop the growth of very tiny blood vessels that are essential for the cancer to grow and to spread to other areas of the body. We are studying the best way to combine two or more of these biologic therapies to stop a cancer that is no longer curable from continuing to grow. In the future this will mean that cancer is like diabetes and can be controlled for a long time even if it can’t be completely eradicated. We are also conducting research on how best to combine these new therapies with our standard chemotherapy and radiation to cure more patients who have a new diagnosis of head and neck cancer.
Our laboratory has been instrumental in establishing that the modification of DNA through an increase in the epigenetic methylation of cytosine and adenosine residues in DNA (hypermethylation) plays a key role in forming human cancer.
Our research group has also shown that a virus, the human papilloma virus (HPV), is a cause of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that is increasingly being diagnosed in both men and women under 50 years old in the United States. This opens many avenues for development of tumor vaccines, tumor detection, and novel therapies.
Most importantly, all of these new findings from our laboratories and from patient clinical trials are on the cusp of making a real change in how we treat patients. Dr. Forastiere’s team is energized by some of the recent breakthoughs and every day they tell me they feel closer to a cure. It is your help in raising money for research through this event in memory of Jon that makes the difference in the speed at which these findings become the standard of care.
On many occasions, Dr. Forastiere has told me what an amazing person Jon was. How she was honored to treat him and truly touched to be included in your golf tournament. Thank you all so very much.