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30
July – September 2013
www.deltalivingmagazine.com
At the Friends of Ridge Making a Difference Event (L-R) Mrs. Ridge Eagan, Dr.
Jennifer Clarke Neuro oncology UCSF, featured guest speaker and Dr. Robert
Beer, donator to the event.
By Mrs. Ridge Eagan
E
very day 575 people are
diagnosed with a brain
tumor. There are over 688,000
people living with a brain tumor
right now in the United States.
Devastatingly 138,000 of those
are malignant. This year in Cali-
fornia alone, it's estimated that
7,700 people will be diagnosed
with a brain tumor and over
1,500 will die from the dreaded
disease. There is NO cure yet for
brain cancer. The money for re-
search is critical.
My name is Karen Eagan. I lost
my beloved husband Ridge 18
months ago, after his three-year
battle with brain cancer. He was
only 64-years-old, and 35 years to-
gether was not long enough.A few
months after his death, I decided
to direct my grief into something
for good, so I put together the first
ever fundraiser in the East Bay,
CA for brain cancer research, call-
ing it Friends of Ridge Making a
Difference. In April 2012, at our
fundraiser to benefit the National
Brain Tumor Society (NBTS), we
raised $12,517 in our very first
effort! Every penny went to the
NBTS. On April 25, 2013, we
held our Second Annual Friends
of Ridge Making a Difference in
the quest for a cure to brain cancer
event at Trilogy at theVineyards in
Brentwood, CA. It benefitted the
NBTS, and again, was a HUGE
success!Words cannot even express
my gratitude.
There were 120 people in at-
tendance vying to be the highest
bidder on over 130 generously
donated items in this year’s Si-
lent Auction and Raffle. Proceeds
rose that evening totaled just over
$12,000.
Following the Friends of Ridge
Event, nine team members joined
me to walk in the Annual NBTS
walk in San Francisco on Saturday,
May 4, 2013. This year, the total
rose so far for the National Brain
Tumor Society by the Friends of
Ridge Making a Difference team
is now up to a whopping $15,056.
That's a $3,000 increase over last
year. This made our team the #4
fundraising team for the NBTS in
the Bay Area. One hundred per-
cent of the donations go directly
to the National BrainTumor Soci-
ety for their work in brain cancer
research. They have donated over
$12 million dollars to brain cancer
research in the past three years.
Immediately following the
San Francisco walk, I headed to
Washington DC where I met
with Senator Diane Feinstein and
Senator Barbara Boxer and three
California Representatives, in-
cluding Brentwood's own Jerry
McNerney, to request funding the
National Institute of Health and
the National Cancer Institute at
levels that would keep urgent re-
search for a cure to brain cancer
going. Additionally, I campaigned
the senators and representatives for
chemotherapy parity. Currently
oral chemotherapies are not cov-
ered in the same way as IV che-
motherapies.
The San Francisco National
Brain Tumor Society Walk was
a huge success this year with to-
tal donations – Friends of Ridge
included – at an astounding
$601,498! It's not too late; you
can still donate by going to www.
braintumorwalk.org/bayarea.
Trilogy Members
Walk
for a
Cure
for
Brain Cancer
Photos courtesy of Mrs. Ridge Eagan
(L-R) Mrs. Ridge Eagan, Ashlee Barden, Steve Roddy, Patrick Roddy, Katie Roddy, Brianna Franchi, Darren Reger, Joel
Reger and Kim Franchi at this year’s National Brain Tumor Society San Francisco walk