Dodd family nears $1 million goal for cancer research

Dodd family nears $1 million goal for cancer research
By Craig Salters/ csalters@cnc.com
Thursday, October 28, 2004

If a cure for cancer is the million-dollar question, the Dodd family is
working hard to find the answer.

Michael and Denyse Dodd, proud parents of 10-year-old Oliver and
four-year-old Isabelle, made a commitment on Valentine's Day 2003
to raise $1 million over a five-year period for the Jimmy Fund/Dana
Farber Cancer Institute. When that goal is achieved - and they've
already raised more than $900,000 - Dana Farber will hire a full-time
research scientist in perpetuity to solve the riddle of neuroblastoma,
an aggressive solid tumor cancer that exclusively afflicts children
between the ages of one and two as it did Isabelle, who is now in
remission and content to run around the Dodds' summer cottage in
the Follins Pond area of South Dennis.

"It's an endowment, so it will live forever or until a
cure is found," says Michael, who grew up on Pleasant Street in
South Yarmouth and met Denyse, who grew up on Yarmouth's Long Pond Drive,
while the two were students at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School.
The family now lives in Needham.

To raise the needed funds, the Dodds created Friends For Life,
an informal but effective organization that taps the generosity of
family and friends as well as more than 60 other families affected by
neuroblastoma, a cancer that afflicts roughly 600 children per year
in the United States and is the number one killer of children under
the age of five.

"We couldn't have done this alone," says Denyse,
who is putting together a guest list for a thank-you party that
already has more than 500 names. "It's because of all the people
who joined hands on this, who believed and helped, that we're
going to make it."

One such helper was Michael's cousin Paul Brown, who put
together an original team of 16 "pedal partners" and raised a
significant amount of money during the Pan Mass Challenge,
a biking fund-raiser for The Jimmy Fund. The Friends For Life team currently has more than 100 riders.

Still others joined different events, including a
half-marathon and a 26-mile walk sponsored by the Jimmy Fund.
Others sponsored dances,ran silent auctions, knit scarves and
did whatever they could to make the Dodds' ambitious goal a reality.
Two of the more original fund-raising ideas, which can be found
in the gift shop of the group's Web site, myfriendsforlife.com
(the Dodds used "my" in the address because Friends For Life already
had been taken), include a silver Friends For Life bracelet
donated by a local artisan and "Oliver's Story:
For Siblings of Kids With Cancer," a children's book written and
illustrated by Michael through the eyes of Isabelle's big brother.
Oliver is scheduled to read from his book in December during a
tree lighting ceremony at Post Office Pavilion in Washington, D.C.

Locally, 20 percent of the $325,000 in funds raised from the
Joe Cronin Fishing Tournament was recently donated to the
Friends For Life Neuroblastoma Endowment Fellowship
as will 100 percent of the funds raised during the upcoming
Bass River Doors for Charity contest in December.

Denyse got the idea for the $1 million restricted account
after talking with Dr. Lisa Diller at Dana Farber, who was talking
hypothetically about what such funding could do in the fight
against neuroblastoma, which has seen less research dollars than
those devoted to battling the various forms of leukemia.

"I said, 'Well, what would you do with $1 million?" says
Denyse, who adds the overall goal is to make sure that other families do
not have to go through the ordeal of treatments faced by the Dodds and
others.

Michael adds that, although Friends For Life is close to
reaching its $1 million goal, any additional funds raised also
will be used exclusively for research. In other words, the Dodds
have no intention of stopping their fight.

"If we can get one researcher, then we can get two,
or a research assistant," says Michael, noting that, in 1996,
only one in 10 children diagnosed with the disease survived
more than five years. Today, he says, survival rates are
closer to six in 10, compared with 80 to 90 percent survival
rates for childhood leukemia.

The Dodds hope the money they raise will be used as seed
money to eventually create a center of excellence at Dana Farber,
helping to make the end of childhood cancer that much closer.

"We're trying to get the resources up to speed,"
says Michael. "If more resources were dedicated, we could get there."

The Dodds say those wishing to help can do so in a number of ways,
from visiting their frequently updated Web site to joining the
friends in their activities.

"You can walk with us, run with us, bike with us or knit
with us," says Denyse. "We're open to anyone."

Local donations also can be made by sending a check to Friends or
Life, care of Kathy O'Neil, 128 Pleasant St., South Yarmouth, 02664.

The Dodds thank those who already have participated for giving
them "a circle of families" with which to make a difference.

"It seemed like an unrealistic goal at first but, when all the other
families who've been touched by this disease started coming together,
it became possible," says Denyse.

Published in the Register October 28, 2004
http://www2.townonline.com/barnstable/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=115553