Thursday, February 1, 2007

Recipients selected for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Spirit of Tom Landry Award

By Pegasus News wire

DALLAS — The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society announced today the recipient of the 2007 Spirit of Tom Landry Award will be Matthew Willis. The Heart of Gold Award will be awarded to Sara Foxworth and Christine Schuepbach. Award recipients will be acknowledged at the Saint Valentine's Day Luncheon & Fashion Show, presented by Stanley Korshak on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Reunion.

Twelve year-old Matthew Willis was selected to receive the Spirit of Tom Landry Award. This prestigious award honors a youth with courage, integrity, dignity and dauntless spirit, who has battled blood cancer through personal experience or who has volunteered extensively on behalf of others who suffer from blood cancer. Matthew's father, Jim Willis, co-founder of Links Fore Leukemia golf tournament, lost his battle with leukemia when Matthew was two years old. Matthew never really knew his father, so he decided to participate in the golf tournament as a way to honor the memory of him. Since the age of nine, Matthew has been fundraising for the Society's Links Fore Leukemia golf tournament. In just three years, Matthew has raised a total of $30,000 for the event.

You know what would make an even better trophy? That hat.

The Heart of Gold Award honors a distinguished individual who has courageously and relentlessly waged their personal battle with blood cancer and emerged as a triumphant survivor. Two survivors have been selected to receive this award in 2007. Sara Foxworth was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) on April 1, 2006. Amazingly, both of Sara's sisters were a match for a bone marrow transplant: a progressive stem cell treatment used with blood cancer patients. Sara's sister Stacey was selected to donate her stem cells. One year later, Sara received the news that she is cancer-free.

Christine Schuepbach was also selected to receive the Heart of Gold Award. Having been healthy all her life, in 2004 Christine was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL), a rare type of leukemia. Over the next three years, Christine would endure grueling chemotherapy treatments. But, she says that thanks to extensive research funded by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, her chances for survival were very good.

Source: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

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