Newtown-Based "A Love For Life" Donates $100K To Penn Medicine
NEWTOWN, PA — Volunteers and board members with Newtown-based “A Love for Life” traveled into Center City Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon to deliver a $100,000 donation to Penn Medicine and its pancreatic cancer research and development teams.
The development team, led by Therese Marmion, and the pancreatic cancer research team, led by Dr. Benjamin Stanger, took a break from their busy schedules to share lunch and provide their guests from Bucks County with an update on the diagnosis and treatment of the deadly cancer.
Christine Edmonds of Newtown formed the nonprofit shortly after her husband Kevin died from the disease in 2012. Kevin’s older sister Nora also died from the disease in 2009.
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At Wednesday’s gathering in Center City, Edmonds embraced her husband Kevin’s oncologist, Dr. Nevena Damjanov, and Patricia Gambino, MSN, RN, who was Kevin’s Nurse Navigator. The group also met with Dr. Mark O’Hara, who has made frequent trips to Newtown to support fundraising events. He is also a member of the group’s dragon boat team.
“Although things did not turn out the way we hoped with Kevin’s eventual outcome, we are so thankful for all of the hard work and dedication that his entire team invested,” said Edmonds. “And although it’s been 12 years, I feel like we are all still on that same committed team … just working now to improve the odds for new patients.”
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Christine Edmonds, center, with Kevin’s brother Christopher Edmonds and cousin Tricia Bell. (Contributed)
“The funds you have raised these last years have helped us improve the five-year survival rate from 4.5 to 13 percent. We have had some very exciting research results using KRAS inhibitors that your donations have helped to make possible,” said Dr. Stanger. “We expect this new research to result in much better patient outcomes in the very near future.”
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The check presentation was ceremonial as the group utilizes direct online Penn Giving Pages to funnel donations directly to Penn and its research team throughout the year. The organization donates 100 percent of the money it raises, which has surpassed more than $1.3 million to date.
A Love for Life has three fundraising events planned for this week.
For more information about A Love for Life, click here.
Christine Edmonds with her husband Kevin’s oncologist Dr. Nevena Damjanov. (Contributed)
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