Jamba Juice served up a cool idea
When Jamba Juice of Highland Park celebrated its grand opening the store also introduced its Rory Galaxy Smoothie. For a full year, 50 cents of every Rory Smoothie sold went to The Foundation. Now that’s a powerful drink.
Saks shared a shopping spree
In May, just in time for Mother’s Day, Saks Fifth Avenue in Highland Park hosted a Private Shopping Evening benefiting pediatric brain cancer research. Serving cocktails and hors d’oeuvres as guests mingled and shopped, the store donated 10 percent of its sales that evening to The Foundation.
Rory Award honored great expressions
The Rory Award carried on at Indian Trail Elementary School and served to reinforce the school’s ongoing CARE (Caring and Accepting in a Responsible Environment) program and its objective of helping every child feel valued and respected. Kindergartner Madeline Barsky earned honors for her highly creative drawing and the essay award went to Hannah Kreindler, grade four, for her outstanding work on the duties of good citizenship. Barry Bakal, who initiated the award idea, continued to donate to The Foundation in the name of each Rory Award winner.
Young actors continued to shine for Rory
The Lake Forest Children’s Theatre Company continued its support of The Rory David Deutsch Foundation through its seasonal performances around the area. Led by founder Margo Proeh, the company drew more than 300 children excited to display their talent in shows that included “Peter Pan” and “The Music Man.” Donating a percentage of ticket sales from every show to The Foundation, this remarkable cast has made a dramatic impact in the battle against pediatric brain cancer.
Super Bears reunited to drive for the green
An impressive huddle of players from the ’85 Super Bowl Champion Bears, along with other well-known sports figures, participated in a unique golf fundraiser that supported two very worthy causes. The Bears Reunion Charity Golf Classic, held in June at Big Run Golf Club in Lockport, benefited The Otis Wilson Foundation and The Rory David Deutsch Foundation. Funds were raised primarily through sponsorship opportunities that included a closest to the pin contest — won by the Punky QB — and raffle and silent auction contributions that totaled a remarkable $200,000. At this event, everyone was a champion.
Kids generated creative sales
On four different dates throughout the year, Whole Foods of Deerfield invited kids to create crafts and bake desserts that were sold to the public. With proceeds going to The Foundation, their creations were a big hit.
Hoops event netted another big win
Switching from team play to 3-on-3 tournament and contests such as a three-point shootout and free throw competition, the basketball event that benefits The Foundation scored $32,494 for pediatric brain tumor research in September. Held at Highland Park High School, tournament director Alan Samsky expanded the format to get more kids involved and get adults in on the act as well. Former Chicago Bull Ron Harper was an added highlight, inviting special contributors to go one-on-one.
Olga’s generosity went more than skin deep
For the third straight year, Olga’s Spa in Highland Park coordinated an event in which 100% of the spa's revenues for the day were donated to The Foundation. Held October 31st, this fundraising makeover brought in $7,561, nearly doubling its results of the previous year. Thanks to Olga’s heartfelt hard work, this event went beyond spa treatments with a delicious food buffet, a silent auction, and raffle.
California entrepreneur designed a collaborative effort
Like Rory, Erica Corrigon lost her life to a brain stem glioma. A friend of Erica’s family, Laurie Snyder, responded by using her skills as a clothing manufacture in Santa Monica to design a new print for her clothing line, Flap Happy. After learning of Rory, Laurie made a $2,500 donation to The Foundation and chose to donate a percentage of each sale from this line to The Foundation in memory of Erica. The line celebrates Erica's love of puppies and is featured on T-shirts, shorts, swimwear, headwear, and dresses
The Foundation made an impact with two million dollar commitment to Duke
The Rory David Deutsch Brain Tumor Research Program at the Brain Tumor Center of Duke University was launched in the spring on 2000 to support laboratory and clinical studies in the area of pediatric brain tumors. With the help of funds from the Rory David Deutsch Foundation, the program conducted clinical trials of new chemotherapy treatments that have been found to treat pediatric gliomas in lab studies. In addition, the world-renowned cancer center conducted laboratory research to identify specific genes that may play a role in tumor growth. The Duke team was also in the process of developing vaccines for childhood gliomas. In an effort to provide an even deeper investment in the program at the Duke Brain Tumor Center, and enable the center to explore new approaches against childhood gliomas,
The Foundation made a research grant in the amount of $2,000,000 to be paid over ten years.
The promising developments at Duke included research on two combination chemotherapies – one of Temodar (temozolomide) and CPT11 and another of BCNU and CPT11. These chemotherapies were tested on children with brain-stem gliomas in clinical trials that evolved directly from lab studies conducted at Duke. Those studies showed that the combination of these agents were particularly synergistic. Temodar is designed to prevent the replication of rapidly dividing cells, such as those in tumors. It is the first chemotherapy for this type of recurrent glioma to come to market in 20 years. Temodar is a methylating agent that puts a methyl group on a specific part of DNA, which ultimately leads to cell death. CPT11 has been found in lab studies to enhance the activity of both Temodar and BCNU. CPT11 is an inhibitor of topoisomerase, an enzyme that is critical for DNA replication, and is a derivative of camptothecin, a natural substance found in a tree native to China. BCNU is an alkylating agent that directly attacks DNA by putting a cross link between the two strands, resulting in cell death. Karenitecin was another new chemotherapeutic drug being tested at Duke, in collaboration with Texas Baylor Hospital. Like CPT11, it is camptothecin-based. Karenitecin has been observed to have strong antitumor activity at low concentrations and is designed to have less toxicity and drug resistance than other camptothecins. Unlike typical water-soluble camptothecins, Karenitecin is fat soluble, which scientists believe may give it enhanced power to penetrate tissue. These studies represent a portion of the substantial research and clinical trials on brain tumors that continue to take place at Duke.
Duke was also in the midst of identifying a vast number of the genes found in a given type of brain tumor. Researchers were looking to see what genes are present in gliomas that are not found in healthy brain cells. If a gene is unique to a brain tumor, it is being targeted for diagnostic purposes and the development of treatment therapies. Over the years many growth factor molecules for specific cells in the body's immune system have been identified. Methods for growing antigen-presenting cells (an antigen is a substance that produces an immune response), called dendritic cells, have been developed. As a result of this progress, many vaccine trials for different types of cancer were undertaken. For example, Duke researchers were able to culture and expand dendritic cells from brain tumor patients. These dendritic cells were being exposed in test tubes in the laboratory to a large number of gene products from childhood gliomas. These cells are then analyzed for their ability to activate immune cells. Once dendritic cells have been pulsed with specific tumor-related gene products from childhood gliomas and have been shown to activate immune cells, these pulsed dendritic cells can be reintroduced into patients with brain tumors. These clinical trials were designed to allow determination of the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines. Vaccine and immune approaches are particularly promising, since they carry much less toxicity to the normal brain than existing treatments of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. "Because of the Foundation's support and general advances taking place in cancer biology, I feel confident that within my lifetime effective treatment of childhood gliomas will become a reality," said Dr. Darell Bigner, leader of the Neuro-Oncology Program and deputy director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Henry Friedman, co-director of the Clinical Neuro-Oncology Program at the Brain Tumor Center, concurred. “With the help of the Foundation,” he said, “we can accelerate our progress and move closer to successfully treating and ultimately finding a cure for this disease.”