New Voice of Hope Emerges in Pancreatic Cancer Fight
David Perry -- Furniture Today, December 16, 2010
David Perry Executive Editor
The many voices in the fight against pancreatic cancer rise up in the Valley of the Sun in the Phoenix area each December. They are voices full of concern and compassion. Some are the voices of pancreatic cancer survivors - a small group, unfortunately - and some are the voices of those who have lost loved ones to this fourth-deadliest type of cancer. Some are the voices of researchers, who are hopeful that pancreatic cancer can be beaten in their lifetime.
The eighth annual Seena Magowitz Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic, held earlier this month at the new Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., featured some familiar voices in the crusade to vanquish pancreatic cancer, including the one that launched the crusade back in 2003. That belongs to bedding veteran Roger Magowitz, who remembers his mother, Seena, with this event. She died of pancreatic cancer in 2001.
From a modest beginning the Seena Magowitz Golf Classic has grown to become one of the biggest bedding events on the calendar, attracting virtually all of bedding's major producers and suppliers, and several of the category's biggest retailers as well.
The industry's outpouring of support for pancreatic cancer research is remarkable. This year's event raised about $2.5 million, with Roger Magowitz and his wife, Jeanne, donating $1 million. "I never thought donating $1 million would feel so good," he said.
He and Jeanne recently sold their business, Mattress Discounters of Virginia Beach, Va., to Houston-based Mattress Firm, but Roger's fight against pancreatic cancer will continue. He has been named charitable advisor, a new position, at Mattress Firm.
That deal brings a new voice to the pancreatic cancer crusade - that of Mattress Firm CEO Steve Stagner. He said in comments at the event that Mattress Firm will continue its support of the Seena Magowitz tournament and will bring its cause to a bigger stage. Stagner said that Mattress Firm will develop a strategy to mobilize its organization to tackle the fight against pancreatic cancer. And he issued a challenge to his audience: "Why not now?"
Now is the time, Stagner said, to erase the defeatist thinking that plagues the fight against pancreatic cancer. Now is the time for the industry to get more involved in the cause. "Let's solve this in our lifetime," he said.
His is a powerful voice, a voice of hope, to add to this crusade. It is one that will make a difference, and that difference can save thousands of lives each year.
Will you join Roger and Steve in the fight against pancreatic cancer?
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