STRONG - A local family, appreciative of the help it has received in dealing with a health crisis, is looking to return the favor and help others.
The inaugural Bobby's Open golf tournament, which will honor Robert E. Else III and benefit the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), will be held Friday, June 29, at Frosty Valley Country Club, Bloom Road, Danville.
Presented by King Coal Tours and its owners, the Else family, the event will raise money for research to find a cure for multiple myeloma.
Robert Else, 62, was diagnosed with the disease in November 2002.
"He was having a stress test, a routine examination, when they found some elevated levels in his blood," said tournament organizer and son Jonathan Else. "They did more tests and found the multiple myeloma."
According to the MMRF, multiple myeloma is a blood cancer in which plasma cells in the bone marrow grow out of control. These cells can damage the bone, causing pain. Myeloma may also cause infection, anemia, problems with bruising and bleeding, and damage to organs, particularly the kidneys.
Still fighting
The cancer is incurable, but treatable, and has a five-year survival rate of 38 percent, one of the lowest of all cancers. The Else family, however, credits the foundation and its research for helping Robert survive.
"As you know," the family writes in a letter announcing the tournament, "Bob has already beaten the normal rate thanks to the treatment already on the market. The MMRF has helped accelerate the development of four new treatments that are extending the lives of multiple myeloma patients and are being explored as treatments for more than 30 other cancers."
Ten years after the diagnosis, and following radiation therapy, two stem cell transplants and years of chemotherapy, Else is still "fighting the good fight" and continues to work and be productive each day.
A way to help
The MMRF was founded in 1998 by twin sisters Kathy Giusti and Karen Andrews after Giusti, a former pharmaceutical executive and Harvard Business School graduate, was diagnosed with the disease. The foundation's mission is to relentlessly pursue innovative means that accelerate the development of next-generation multiple myeloma treatments to extend the lives of patients and lead to a cure.
Grateful for the help the MMRF gave to the family in educating and informing them of all that has been done and is being accomplished, the Else family starting making plans for Bobby's Open.
"When we informed the foundation that we will be holding this golf tournament, they were absolutely thrilled," Else said. "Everyone who has worked with my father through King Coal has been very supportive as well. We wanted to help and try to find a cure. If you just sit around, stuff doesn't get done."
Major prizes
The tournament will feature a four-person scramble format with registration and lunch beginning at 11:30 a.m. with a 1 p.m. start. Through Else's friends in the travel community, major prizes have been donated for things such as the longest drive, hole-in-one and the closest-to-the-pin contests. They include a weekend stay at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, courtesy of Art Henry Tours, of Nashville, and a trip to Cape Cod from Northeast Tours, according to Jonathan Else.
"We will also be having silent auctions, drawings and door prizes with 100 percent of the money raised going toward the foundation," he said.
Else stressed this effort is to honor his father and the fight he has undertaken.
"We wanted to do something with him here so that he can enjoy it and see the support he has from all his friends," he said.
Cost of the tournament is $125 per person or $500 for a foursome, which includes greens fee with cart, range balls, lunch, a post-tournament dinner and door prizes. Those interested in participating can call Else at 814-6501.