Nancy Brinker is encouraged. One year ago, she and a group of women planned a women’s polo match to benefit breast cancer research. After months of work, the match was canceled because of rain, but the group still managed to raise $50,000.
This year, they’re at it again, but this time they’ve also planned a few other money-raising events: a luncheon at the Registry Hotel at which former first lady Betty Ford will be the guest of honor, and a women’s 5-kilometer run at the Galleria, followed by another shot at the women’s polo match at Willow Bend Polo and Hunt Club.
Brinker says she became interested in breast cancer research when her 36-year-old sister died of the disease three years ago. “I really found some of the problems with the research then,” she says. “We all raise a lot of money for cancer without targeting it.” Several years ago, she formed the Susan G. Komen Foundation in memory of her sister, in order to raise money specifically for breast cancer research.
The recipients of this year’s proceeds will be Baylor Hospital, to use in a possible new breast cancer detection center; Dr. Ellen Vitetta at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, for her research into monoclonal antibodies (certain cancer-fighting drugs that attach themselves to antibodies in order to reach the cancer); and Dr. Gary Spitzer, a cancer researcher at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute’s Medical Breast Clinic.
The cost for entering the race, scheduled for October 29, is $6 in advance and $8 at the door; the polo match is $5 per person.
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