Educational conference in NYC

By Suzie Siegel, board member

The Sarcoma Foundation of America, our sister organization, will present its annual Patient Educational Conference May 1 in New York City.

Patients, families, caregivers and medical professionals will attend the conference 11 a.m to 3:30 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, 109 E. 42nd St. Admission is $35, including a buffet lunch and a workbook based on the doctors' talks.

SFA is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The Sarcoma Alliance is its "older" sister -- this is our 12th year. Our founders knew each other, and we have always worked together on issues. SFA focuses on raising money for research while the Alliance concentrates on patient education, guidance and support. But there is overlap, of course, with the NYC conference being just one example.

The SFA has kindly allowed me to have a table at the conference this year. Please feel free to stop by, talk about what's new and see if the Alliance can help you in some way.

The expertise of the physicians on the panel is very impressive, and they will answer questions after their talks. Here is the lineup:

Raphael E. Pollock, MD, PhD, FACS
Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston
Topic: Advances in Sarcoma Surgery

Dina Chelouche Lev, MD
Assistant Professor, M.D. Anderson
Topic: Advances in Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors

George D. Demetri, MD
Director, Ludwig Center at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Sarcoma Center in Boston
Topic: Future Directions of Sarcoma Therapy

John S.J. Brooks, MD, FRCPath
Director, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia
Topic: Advances in Sarcoma Pathology

Robert G. Maki, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Pediatrics & Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City
Topic: Emerging Therapies for Sarcoma Patients

John M. Goldberg, MD
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Topic: Advances in Sarcoma Vaccines and Immunotherapy

Jewelry Designer Raises Money for the Sarcoma Alliance

Coleen Workman is a talented and successful jewelry designer in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has a relative who was recently diagnosed with sarcoma for the second time. She went through all the treatments two years and ago and it has come back. This time, with a vengeance. She has started treatment again and it’s tough. She is only 49 and has two beautiful grand babies. Additionally, her father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2009. Her family’s story is much like other people when they get the news. Coleen and her three sisters and spent their time finding out everything they could about these awful diseases.

During this time Coleen started making jewelry for family and friends to keep hope and her father in their thoughts and prayers. She wanted to do more and contacted the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and was able to display her jewelry on their website. She loves helping them raise money for research and also helping other families to have hope. Her father passed away in August 2010.

Coleen contacted the Sarcoma Alliance an offered to sell some of her beautifully designed jewelry on our website, helping us support those affected by sarcoma. All of her designs are made with the highest quality sterling silver and semi-precious stones. For the Sarcoma Alliance her jewelry is made with a yellow stone called citrine. The jewelry is finished without pits and discoloring. Each piece is shipped in a yellow organza bag with an information card on how to care for it and Never Lost Hope statement. If you would like to see her work and order a piece visit our store at: http://www.sarcomaalliance.org/Donations/our_store.shtml