Four hundred walkers raise $141,000 for sarcoma cure
By Angela Greiner Contributing Writer

(l to r) Susan Erickson, Robert Yates and Dr. David Harmon at the sarcoma walk held July 14 in Boston.

Region - This year across the couåntry approximately 9,000 people will be diagnosed with one of over 50 forms of sarcoma. This rare and aggressive cancer forms tumors in the soft tissue or bone, then often systematically spreads to major organs. Due to its rarity, diagnosis is often in the late stages of the disease. One-third of sarcoma patients do not survive the disease.

Jennifer Hunter Yates, a former Hudson resident, was diagnosed with advanced sarcoma in November 2002 and succumbed to the disease at the age of 33, after battling it for 17 months.

Prompted by the loss of her sister and frustrated with the lack of educational resources available to patients and primary care doctors about the disease, Susan Erickson formed the Jennifer Hunter Yates Sarcoma Foundation (JHYSF) with the help of Jennifer's husband, Robert Yates, a third-grade teacher at the Farley School in Hudson, friends and family.

In 2005 and 2006, the foundation raised nearly $200,000 during the annual 12,402 Steps (the number of days in Jennifer's life) to Cure Sarcoma Walk. The money was given as a gift to Massachusetts General Hospital, whose sarcoma unit currently provides treatment for approximately 900 adult sarcoma patients.

The money is used to fund several programs, including the first Sarcoma Awareness Day in 2006. With standing room only, the event was an opportunity for patients and family member to learn from a panel of sarcoma specialists about the latest medical research and clinical trials under way.

At the third annual walk, which was held May 5 at Hudson High School, Erickson was surprised by the turnout of 400 walkers, double that of last year. Apparently, Erickson explained, the patients who went to the awareness day learned about the JHYSF and wanted to support the walk.

On July 10, the JHYSF presented Dr. David Harmon, a sarcoma specialist at Mass. General, with a check for $141,000, which according to Harmon, who attended the walk, was more than triple what anyone had hoped would be raised.

"That was an amazing surprise," Harmon said after receiving this year's check. "I am grateful and touched by the eff ort this family has put in. It is staggering and it motivates me to put more eff ort in."

The financial gift, along with other endowments, makes it possible to hire more research staff, offer patients financial support and purchase new equipment. The department often has to compete for medical grants to aff ord new equipment, but with JHYF funds, it recently purchased a new database for the pathologist to track tissue samples. Harmon explained that the financial impact that these gifts have on the sarcoma department are significant to the research and the quest for a cure.

"It is amazing," Harmon said about the fund-raising eff ort. "It is the piece that has been missing."

The family and friends of Jennifer are banding together with survivors to continue to spread awareness about the disease. As pat of Sarcoma Awareness Week, nearly 50 members from the Metrowest community dressed in matching T-shirts joined with other survivors and hospital staff July 14 to walk the streets of Boston to continue to raise awareness about the disease. The second Sarcoma Awareness Day will be held at Mass. General Hospital in November, and the planning has begun for the fourth annual walk in May 2008.

For more information about how to become involved with the JHYSF or to learn about sarcoma, visit www.jenniferhunteryatessarcomafoundation. org.