PERSONAL REQUEST: Help Me Raise $100,000 for Cancer Research

PF Readers -

Starting today, I have just ten weeks to raise $100,000 for cancer research.

This year I am honored to be a candidate for the 'Man of the Year' campaign benefitting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), whose mission is to fund cutting-edge research and eradicate blood cancers.

In 2015 this campaign raised $9.8 million for blood cancer research.  My goal is to raise $100,000 during the 10 week fundraising period that began this morning and ends with the grand finale Gala on June 4th in Austin, TX. I am actively raising money through letters, emails, calls, sponsorships, proceeds from a charity polo event outside Austin on May 7, and finally by selling tables and silent and live auction items at our Gala in Austin on June 4.  If your employer matches charitable gifts, you can easily double your contribution.

This is personal for me.

I am raising funds to name a research grant in honor of my wife Suzanne's late father, former Shelby County Judge John Tomlin.  He died almost seven years ago from pancreatic cancer.  I never had the chance to meet him nor to seek his blessing for my marriage to Suzanne. This grant will live on in his name forever.

This year's LLS Boy & Girl of the Year are Archer Folterman (age 1) & Karen Andrade (Age 7), two brave children whose lives have been directly affected by a blood cancer.

I have learned a tremendous amount about Leukemia and Lymphoma since I was asked to do this.  There are 1.1 million people in the U.S. living with or in remission from a blood cancer.  But what's truly exciting is that the groundbreaking research that is being done with the funds raised by LLS has brought us closer to a cure than ever before.

Noteworthy Americans who have died from Lymphoma include Fred Thompson, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Joey Ramone.  Among those who have died from Leukemia are Larry Hagman, Alan Shepard, and Nora Ephron.

But Leukemia has a more personal connection for me:  it was a death sentence for Victor Ojeda, the younger brother of a schoolmate of mine in the mid-1980s.  It was a devastating and heartbreaking thing to watch.  Just 30 years later, Leukemia is treatable and essentially curable if it is diagnosed early enough. This is where cancer research needs your help.

Any donation, large or small, is your pledge to help me achieve the $100,000 fundraising goal. Blood cancer research has led to treatments for many other kinds of cancer, which affects us all.

There are many ways to you can contribute by making a tax deductible donation:

    1. You can donate online at: http://www.mwoy.org/pages/sctx/austin16/mmackowiak

    2. You can mail a check made out to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to:

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

ATTN: Matt Mackowiak's Campaign

8001 Centre Park Drive #150

Austin, TX 78754

    3. You can support us through a corporate sponsorship, which includes buying a table at the fabulous Grand Finale Gala on June in Austin (contact me for more information, [email protected] or 512-423-6116).

    4. You can donate a silent or live auction item (contact me at [email protected] or 512-423-6116).

    5. You can raise money through your employer if they double match charitable donations.

 

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I need your help however you are willing. Please contact me directly with any ideas or questions (512-423-6116 or [email protected]).

This opportunity to raise money for cancer research is a "once in a lifetime" experience for me and I want to raise as much as possible, so I may end this effort with absolutely no regrets.

My long-term goal is a world without cancer. A world where no other family has to hear the words, You have Lymphoma. You have Leukemia. You have cancer. I don't want cancer to take your family member or close friend away as it did the father-in-law that I never met or little Victor Ojeda.

With love and so much gratitude,

Matt Mackowiak

 

512-423-6116 cell

[email protected]

@MattMackowiak

 

FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN TEAM MEMBERS

Corby Alfred

The Hon. Greg Ball

Brett & Kelly Buller

Alberto & Norma Cardenas

Nate & Lauren Day

James & Lynda Dickey

John & Mandy Drogin

Ed Espinosa

Patrick & Elizabeth George

John A. Hay, III

Brian & Jenna Hege

Trace Hight

The Hon. Harvey & Tracey Hilderbran

Jeff & Jennifer Jones

Dr. Nimesh & Bina Palnitkar

Jonathan Saenz

Clayton Stewart

Colin Strother

Caleb & The Hon. Ellen Troxclair

Michael Wilt & Hillary Sotello