Bar Mitzvah Project in memory of Ethan’s grandfather, Robert

“My grandfather was a larger than life figure in his community in the Bay Area.  He was constantly involved with charitable organizations and fundraising missions, often setting up golf tournaments to raise money for different causes.  It would be a true meaningful mitzvah for me to raise money and awareness for a terribly underfunded disease that at this time does not offer the same hope of survival as other cancers.” – Ethan Blank

In early 2008, my mother, Eleanor, was diagnosed with this awful disease. This past summer I competed in a Half Ironman in her honor to raise awareness and money for the fight against pancreatic cancer. Fortunately, my mother’s cancer was caught early and was operable with the Whipple Procedure. With my fund, I wanted my friends and family to take part in my journey to compete in the Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island. The hundreds of hours I trained and the race itself, which was a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run, was NOTHING compared to the journey my mother, Eleanor, and others are undergoing. Last October, I completed a full Ironman in Florida and came in 9^th in my age group. To date, my fund has raised more than $15,000 for the Hirshberg Foundation, in honor of my mom.

To view David’s story, visit: https://pancreatic.org/memorial/bradley

Editors Note: Last year we were approached by Jinny Koffler, a young woman who wanted to honor her mother-in-law and raise money for the Hirshberg Foundation. She, along with family and friends, organized the Glenda Jane Koffler Memorial Golf Tournament, held at Sierra Lakes Golf Course in Fontana. They had 43 participants play golf and afterwards 105 people attended a banquet held at Villa Tepeyac Restaurant in West Covina. After the event, we asked her some questions about her experience.

What motivated you to host this event? Our motivation was Glenda Jane Koffler.  She was a wonderful wife, mom, grandma, and friend.  She passed away on November 30, 2005.  She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and lost her battle within one month.  She was a larger than life woman who loved her kids and grandkids more than anything.  I was lucky to have the most amazing woman as my mother-in-law.  We chose a golf tournament because we wanted to get together once a year to have fun and remember a great woman.  We also wanted to raise money for pancreatic cancer research.

Why did you choose to have the proceeds go to the Hirshberg Foundation?

We chose the Hirshberg Foundation because of the amazing work they support in finding a cure for pancreatic cancer.  Also, the personal story of Agi Hirshberg hit close to home.  She lost her husband too early in life, just as my father-in-law had lost my mother-in- law.  Agi’s husband, Ron Hirshberg, seemed like someone who enjoyed life to the fullest.  That was my mother-in-law.

What were your results? We raised $5000 through the golf tournament, banquet, and raffle tickets.  We also received money from people who were not able to come to the tournament or banquet but wanted to donate in Glenda’s memory. We were really surprised at the amount of money we raised.  We had set our goal for $2000, so you can only imagine how excited we were when we realized we more than doubled that amount.

How was the overall experience for you as the event host? My friend Chris Zessau and I worked together to make this tournament and banquet happen.  Without Chris and many others, it would not have been possible.

What do you think Glenda would have thought about your event? Oh boy, Glenda would have absolutely loved it!  Her greatest joy was watching people she loved around her having a great time.  She was happy when people were enjoying themselves, drinking some beer and eating lots of good food.  She would have been so happy.

Will there be a 2^nd Annual Event? We are planning to make this tournament and banquet an annual event.  We are already in the works to plan the 2008 Glenda Jane Koffler Memorial Golf Tournament.  We hope to double what we made last year!

Is there anything else you want to add? There is one more thing I would like to tell everyone. Just one month after my mother-in-law passed away, I became pregnant. I struggled with secondary infertility for years so we were very surprised.  We had a beautiful little girl and her name is Madison Glenda Jane Koffler, named after her nana.  And wouldn’t you know it…she looks just like her!

You thought you had a busy Fall? While most people were getting ready for the holidays, Jose’s Angels were working tirelessly on not one, but two fundraising events to support the Hirshberg Foundation.

Jose’s Angels are the friends and family of Jose Huerta, who passed away from pancreatic cancer last June. Championed by Jose’s sister-in-law, Christine Huerta, and Jose’s best friend, George Piantka, the group raised more than $12,000 for the Hirshberg Foundation in 2007 by organizing both a Golf Tournament and creating a team at the LA Cancer Challenge.

Held on November 1, 2007 at Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills, CA, the 2^nd Annual Jose’s Angels Golf Tournament was a huge success. The 72 golfers and 125 banquet attendees raised $5,200 for the Foundation and an additional $2,500 for the college savings plans for Jose’s two young children, Emily and Joseph. According to Piantka, the greatest reward from the tournament was not the money raised. “More importantly, we honored Jose and embraced Gina (Jose’s widow), Emily, and Joseph. The kindness those who supported us and the high regard of Jose was felt, especially by the family and friends of Jose. “

The inaugural tournament was held November 2, 2006 as a fund raiser for Jose and his family to help with medical costs, loss of income, and college savings accounts. Reflecting back, Piantka said, “Jose loved the tournament in 2006. His energy was apparent, especially since his health (diagnosed June 2006) had improved by November 2006. His gratitude to each and everyone in attendance was expressed in his address at the tournament banquet…..where he vowed to attend in 2007. I am sure he is proud that we have pressed forward with the tournament since his passing in June 2007; and that the tournament will continue to benefit pancreatic research and his children.”

The golf tournament was just the start of Jose’s Angels busy fall. Christine Huerta organized the Jose’s Angels Team for the Hirshberg Foundation’s 10th Annual L.A. Cancer Challenge 5k/10k Run/Walk. Donning shirts, ribbons and keepsakes made by Chris in memory of Jose, the team members held a banner as they walked along the course at the VA grounds. Through her organization and collective support, $6,915 was donated to the Hirshberg Foundation through the LA Cancer Challenge website in honor of Jose.

Piantka added, “I am proud of our association with the Hirshberg Foundation and especially proud, in Jose’s honor, of our collective efforts in supporting research and improvements in quality of life in the battle against this seemingly insurmountable disease. As the Hirshberg Foundation’s motto goes, ‘You Can Hope or You Can Help™;’ and we are both hoping and helping. What it comes down to, is, as I have realized, you are never more alive than when you are helping.”

Jose’s Angels does not plan on slowing down their fundraising efforts anytime soon. They again will have a team at the LA Cancer Challenge, on Sunday, October 26, 2008. And this year, the Jose’s Angels Golf Tournament will be held the day after the LACC, on Monday, October 27, 2008. For more information about Jose’s Angels or their Golf Tournament, please email George Piantka at [email protected] or call 760-707-6833.

By Ronnie Raper

In March of 1995 my father-in-law, Doyle Williams, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I remember my own father, Cotton Raper, saying “You and Denise (my wife) better spend all the time you can with him because old Doyle won’t be around long”. Doyle was only 51 years old. Throughout his illness I tried to comfort Doyle and my wife as best I could. Dad kept saying “poor old Doyle….just no hope”. A hospice bed was soon staged in the living room and that is where Doyle drew his last breath on March 20, 1995.

Ironically, just 12 years later Cotton began losing a severe amount of weight. At first he was some what pleased because he had always been over-weight, but he soon discovered that this weight loss was a tell tale sign of something much worse.

We didn’t give it a lot of thought at first because Cotton was a hospital veteran. He was constantly under the care of specialist due to a rare disease called Wagner’s that disabled him in 1976. It wasn’t strange to us to hear that he was sick or going to have a battery of tests performed on any given day.

Cotton had already survived two open heart surgeries in his lifetime and we felt convinced that he would fight through whatever this was.

I remember my cell-phone ringing as I got into my car a week later. It was my mom and she said “Son, I made your Daddy go to the Emergency Room. They ran some x-rays and found a mass on his pancreas. They’re not giving him any hope”. I just couldn’t believe it!! I heard those same words twelve years ago.

I noticed that Dad’s eyes were yellow by the time I arrived. Where had I seen that before? You want to believe that if you see a train bearing down on you that you can get off the tracks after the horn blows, but we couldn’t change it. Oh, how that fact ripped at my heart. I noticed there was something else different about Dad’s eyes other than the jaundice. He realized that his body, just like a past boyfriend or girlfriend, was breaking up with him. He didn’t want to die, but life was breaking up with him. On December 7, 2007 at 3:00 am, Dad drew his last breath on the hospice bed that had been staged in his living room.

Two months later, I decided that there had to be something done to help get people off the tracks of pancreatic cancer. My research led me to The Hirshberg Foundation. I was filled with hope to realize there was indeed a way to fight back and that Cotton’s fight didn’t end on that hospice bed.

Those people that knew my Dad called him Cotton, due to his blonde hair. Cotton raised a family of singers and musicians, so we decided to plan a music festival in his memory. Cotton Fest was held on September 29, 2007 on our 17 acre private property in Etowah, Tennessee. We had professional and semi-professional bands playing mainly Bluegrass, Contemporary Bluegrass, and Southern Gospel Music. The event generated $700.00 in donations for the Foundation. We plan to do much better this year by getting an earlier start. There were a lot of growing pains associated with getting our property festival-ready.  We are looking forward to The 2nd Annual Cotton-Fest which will be held on September 27, 2008. Our family and friends are working aggressively to secure enough sponsors in order to donate a 100% of the proceeds to The Hirshberg Foundation.

I am eternally grateful that there exists a foundation of hope for all those like Doyle and Cotton. This was my way of healing…knowing that their life and their fight will continue.

Editors Note: We first featured an article about Jeremy in our Summer 2003 newsletter, after the high school sophomore held his first online coin auction to raise money for our Foundation. As you will read, that was only the beginning of his devotion to our cause and to honoring his grandfather’s memory.

By Jeremy Katz

My grandfather was an aviation enthusiast, and in the summer of 1998, I inherited his passion. Standing outside his hold house in London, I saw the heavy jets on approach to Heathrow, and, combined with many recent flights, I realized that I, too, loved aviation. I finally had an interest that allowed me to get close to my grandfather, but I was only given a year and a half before he was taken from me, with so much knowledge and so many stories left unshared.

It started in 10^th grade when I did a biology research project on pancreatic cancer. Three years after my grandfather succumbed to his pancreatic cancer following a valiant battle, I finally understood what had taken him, and I wanted to do what I could to keep others from experiencing the pain and loss I felt. But, in 10^th grade, there wasn’t much that I could do. At least, not at first glance.

An avid coin collector, I turned to an online message board where I regularly post, and asked if anyone would be willing to donate coins for me to auction, with all proceeds benefiting the Hirshberg Foundation. To my amazement, donations poured in, and by the time I had finished auctioning off every piece, $1700 had been raised. A few months later, I tried my luck at another auction, and with even more success than my first auction, decided to keep running them whenever possible.

While my second and third auctions benefited other worthy causes, I came back to the Hirshberg Foundation for my fourth auction, which, held during my senior year of high school, I feared would be my last. It raised $7225.

My grandfather left this world failing to complete two things. First, he never had the opportunity to go to college, so he was never able to become an aeronautical engineer. Secondly, he was unable to defeat pancreatic cancer. Soon after arriving at MIT, I realized that I had the power to finish those two tasks for him. During MIT’s month-long January break my freshman year, I held another auction, which raised $4000. Then, this past summer, I spent my summer in Los Angeles with Agi, working at the Hirshberg labs at UCLA and watching planes at LAX in my spare time. I left Los Angeles more passionate than ever about helping the foundation.

When I returned to class this past fall as a sophomore, I began the rigorous aeronautical engineering curriculum, on track to complete one of my grandfather’s unfinished tasks. To help complete the other, I held another January auction for the Foundation, and shattered my goal for the auction by raising $7000.

Since 10^th grade, six auctions have raised over $28,000, $20,000 of which has gone to the Hirshberg Foundation. While it’s true that Agi has told me I’m crazy (in the best possible way) for doing what I’ve done, I’d like to think that I’ve just done my part to remember a great man. So long as you remember, no one is truly gone.