DECEMBER 2023

As the final days of the year approach, I want to take a moment to offer my sincere gratitude for all the support that this organization has received from so many over our two decades. Your generous contributions were a key factor in our ability to support men and their families as they journey with prostate cancer.

We end 2023 with exciting news to share: Bayer is now sponsoring our Stay in the Game podcast and both of our support groups – for men, and for women and caregivers. We are delighted by Bayer's commitment to our work and are grateful for their engagement with our platform. Keep reading to learn more about this news.

I extend our deep thanks to Molloy University for inviting us to partner with them to deliver in-person health-screenings and educational events throughout 2023. Read more below about this important and fulfilling project.

In looking to the year ahead, we have already committed to a number of exciting events, both in the greater New York/Metropolitan area and beyond.

See below for preliminary details of three such events: a benefit concert with Bernie Williams and John Pizzarelli, a roadtrip to partner with Mercy Medical Center and the Cedar Rapids Kernels for a prostate cancer awareness day, and a PSA screening at the September 12 Yankees-Red Sox game in partnership with the Yankees and Montefiore Einstein.

In closing, I invite you to make a donation to Fans for the Cure as part of your end-of-year giving. Your support is critical to our success.

Kind regards,

Ed Randall
Founder + Chief Advocacy Officer
Fans for the Cure

Fans for the Cure is pleased to announce Bayer as a sponsor of the charity’s Stay in the Game podcast and the Women’s/Caregivers’ and Men’s Online Support Groups. While providing financial backing to these specific programs, Bayer will not be involved in content development. 

The charity welcomes Bayer and thanks the company for its generous support of two of our core programs. The sponsorship began with December’s podcast (due out later this week), a special one-hour conversation between host Ed Randall and the founder of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, Michael Milken.

As we approach the end of our twentieth year, we extend our heartfelt thanks to all our friends, partners, colleagues, supporters, and donors for your immeasurable support over these two decades. Our awareness, testing, advocacy, and support programs would not have been possible if not for the consistent generosity of so many people and organizations.

As we continue to plan our schedule for 2024, we humbly ask for your help once again in staffing over 100 in-person events, producing our well-received Stay in the Game podcast, hosting regular online support groups for men and for women/caregivers, providing medical referrals, and more.

We ask you to consider including Fans for the Cure in your year-end giving. 

Fans for the Cure thanks Molloy University for a generous 2023 grant that allowed us to join with their nursing staff and students (and the university’s mobile unit) for over thirty health-screenings and educational events in medically-underresourced communities in Long Island. We are honored to have engaged in hundreds of discussions with men (and loved ones) about prostate cancer and the importance of men going to the doctor.  

Thank you to Angie Malone, Pete the mobile unit navigator, our regular table mates, Rashida and Stephanie from C.O.P.E., and the hard-working nursing team from Molloy University.

Fans for the Cure and the Stay in the Game podcast are pleased to announce upcoming interviews with two of the most respected and influential voices within the prostate cancer community.  

In late December we will release a special one-hour conversation with the visionary founder of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Michael Milken. In a wide-ranging conversation with host Ed Randall, Milken looks back at the rapid improvements in diagnosis and treatment, while focusing on what he believes to be a realistic goal of eradicating prostate (and all) cancer entirely. 

Journalist and healthcare activist Howard Wolinsky will be the guest for the January podcast. The healthcare writer for the Chicago Sun-Times for almost thirty years, Howard has been a tireless advocate for active surveillance and deferring invasive treatment since his diagnosis of low-risk prostate cancer in 2010. He is a two-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize, the creator of The Active Surveillor newsletter, a lecturer at Northwestern's Medill School, and is currently working for his MPH at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  

Look for these episodes of Stay in the Game at fansforthecure.org and on platforms where you listen to your favorite podcasts.

The charity collaborated with Montefiore Einstein on December 7, 2023, for a full-day prostate cancer awareness event that included PSA screenings offered to current and retired City of New Rochelle (NY) public workers. The event took place inside New Rochelle City Hall.  

Special thanks to Police Officer Anthony Sabatino (his idea!), Dr. Alex Small, the can-do city leaders and executives, and the terrific team from Montefiore. Thanks also to the Yankees for providing 2024 ticket vouchers to all men who were screened at this event.

Due to an outbreak of illness among staff and following the advice of our Medical Advisory Board, Fans for the Cure made the difficult decision to postpone our December 18th concert that was to feature Bernie Williams (yes, #51) and Grammy-winner John Pizzarelli. We expect to announce soon a new date for an April or May concert from this dream duo of jazz guitarists.  

For information about sponsorships, VIP packages, and remaining individual seats, send an email to [email protected]. Use this same email address should you wish to be on the list to be notified immediately when the concert is rescheduled.

Fans for the Cure will once again be joining forces with the Yankees and Montefiore Einstein to offer a free screening to all men attending the Yankees-Red Sox game on Thursday, September 12, 2024.

The screening will take the form of an onsite PSA blood test, with doctors and healthcare professionals participating in the process and physicians available to answer questions. All men undergoing an onsite screening will be given a ticket voucher for two tickets to a selected 2025 Yankees home game. 

Direct any questions to [email protected].

It worked so well last year that we are getting the band back together. 

Fans for the Cure, the Department of Urology at Mercy Medical Center, and the Cedar Rapids Kernels will collaborate on a prostate cancer education and awareness day (part deux) on Sunday, June 23, at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. First pitch will be at 1:00 p.m. CDT. 

The Kernels are the High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. 

Additional details will be shared in newsletters and on our website as they become available, e.g. will spectators be invited onto the field for a postgame catch, as they were last year. Over 700 fans participated (and thanks to Rawlings for providing the baseballs).  

Also:  

• Mr. Shucks, the Kernels’ mascot, has confirmed his attendance.
• The Kernels have a top-notch gift shop.  
• Road distance between Cedar Rapids and Dyersville (Field of Dreams) is 63.8 miles, or about an hour by car.

Both of our online support groups are free and open to all men and women respectively, with registration required.

Men's Support Group

• Thursday, December 28 at 7 PM ET – Register for the Men's Support Group meeting. 
• Thursday, January 11 at 7 PM ET

Women's Support Group

• Tuesday, January 2 – Register for the Women's Support Group meeting
• Tuesday, January 16 at 8 PM ET 

Fans for the Cure allows attendees to register for only the immediately upcoming online support group meeting. Thanks for understanding our desire to keep our meetings safe, secure, and private.

Through our community programs, health events, and local and national outreach, we have established an extensive network of leading urologists, oncologists, and medical professionals with whom we have established relationships and whom we trust with medical referrals.

Should you be seeking a medical referral, we are happy to help connect you with doctors in all areas of the country for testing, second opinions, and guidance explaining treatment options.

In this section, we share links to blog posts, news articles, medical journals, books, and other items that we think will be of interest to you.

1. Same-Day Prostate Cancer Surgery Associated With Satisfaction, Lower Costs
2. VIDEO: Evolving Paradigms in the Detection and Treatment of Prostate Cancer – A conversation about trends in prostate cancer testing and treatment with Tanya Dorff, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine and Rana McKay, MD, University of California, San Diego.
3. VIDEO: What Patients With Prostate Cancer Should Know About the EMBARK Trial – Dr. Stephanie Berg of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School discussed the recent EMARK trial which resulted in the FDA’s approval of Xtandi for non-metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (nmCSPC) with biochemical recurrence at high risk for metastasis.
4. Inquiring minds want to know: Why isn't PSMA PET used in men with low-risk prostate cancer? – By Howard Wolinsky, who will be a guest on an upcoming episode of our Stay in the Game podcast.
5. Nurse Practitioners Discuss AE Management With Prostate Cancer Treatments

As we look forward to ringing in the new year, we ask you to consider Fans for the Cure in your end-of-year giving. Your financial support will help our organization deliver our critical prostate cancer programs where they are needed most in 2024.

Call us: 888-301-4414