JULY 2025

Summer is always a busy season for Fans for the Cure – but this year’s schedule has been jam-packed.

As part of Men’s Health Month (June), our team was on the ground at a half dozen community health events across the Northeast, while also making stops at MLB and Minor League ballparks in Kansas City, Philadelphia, Cedar Rapids, and Seattle. From church basements to community parks to stadium concourses, our mission remains the same: to connect men and their loved ones with information, resources, and access to high-quality care. All with the help of our hard-working collaborators and healthcare partners. 

That spirit continues into August and September (Prostate Cancer Month), with a full calendar of health fairs, screenings, and ballpark awareness nights already confirmed – with 2-3 more likely to be added. We hope you will scroll on for details about our upcoming schedule and consider a visit to an event or two where we will be working. 

We also want to take a moment to thank our donors, supporters, and friends for standing tall with us in a year that has challenged us financially, as it has nearly all nonprofits. As a small charity that relies in no small way on the generosity of foundations, corporations, and grantors to carry out our programs, we are experiencing the ripple effects of both corporations’ economic uncertainty and federal cuts to sources of funding. Your continued support has allowed us to keep showing up where we are needed most.

Whether you met us for the first time this summer or have supported us for years, thank you for being part of this work. It is our partnership with all of you that keeps us going – and growing.

With appreciation,

Ed Randall
Founder + Chief Advocacy Officer
Fans for the Cure

We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg at age 65 of metastatic prostate cancer, just as we were finalizing this newsletter. Diagnosed in early 2024, he faced the disease with courage and grace. We will share more on Ryne's legacy and impact in our August edition.

Fans for the Cure will travel to Polar Park in Worcester, MA, on Tuesday, August 19, for Prostate Cancer Awareness Night. The 6:45 game pits the hometown WooSox against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. We are delighted that local prostate cancer survivors and men who attend our Thursday support group will throw the ceremonial first pitches.

Join us for an evening of baseball, education, and community outreach in support of men’s health. For more information about how to be part of our group in Worcester, send us an email at [email protected].

Fans for the Cure was proud to participate in the nationwide launch of the American Cancer Society’s Empower program at Hope Lodge in New York City on July 23. The initiative aims to provide holistic support, well-being for patients and caregivers, and cancer education and resources to those availing themselves of Hope Lodge’s services.

For those looking for more information about Empower, Hope Lodge, or the American Cancer Society, click on the light blue button below.

On Saturday, September 14, Fans for the Cure will once again take part in the annual Prostate Cancer Awareness Seminar hosted by NYU Langone Health in the Knapp Center Lobby at NYU Langone Health – Suffolk County (Patchogue). This always-engaging program will include expert subject matter speakers, resources, and opportunities for Q&A. More details about this event in the August newsletter.  

For more information, call (516) 535-4173 or send an email to [email protected].

Also on September 14, we will staff a table at the NYC Prostate Cancer Summit, which will take place at the New York Academy of Medicine at 1216 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street. The summit will bring together patients, caregivers, and clinicians for a day of learning and break-out roundtable discussions over free lunch.  

Participating healthcare providers and presenters will be Columbia Doctors, NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  

Doors open at 10 a.m. for the morning presentation sessions. For more information, and to register click on the blue "Register" button below or write to [email protected].

At the request of our men’s support group members, we plan to add 4 to 6 virtual sessions over the next twelve months focused on the challenges of metastatic prostate cancer. Men have asked for guidance in managing the side effects of hormone therapy and adjusting to low testosterone levels, and we expect urologists and oncologists to join several of these conversations.

These meetings will be in addition to regular meetings of the men’s support group that take place every other Thursday via Zoom. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the men’s support group will take place on Thursday, August 7 at 7 p.m. EDT. 

The first installment of the new metastatic prostate cancer series will meet on Thursday, September 11.

Amidst the hustle of our summer programs, we want to take a few moments to extend our thanks to those with whom we have collaborated in recent weeks.

• Our MLB and MiLB road trips to Kansas City, Philadelphia, Cedar Rapids, and Seattle in June could not have taken place without the generosity of national underwriters, table display partners, and individual donations made specifically to the Annual Baseball Road Trip. Thank you to the organizations and the donors who make this annual initiative possible.  
• Hats off to the 15-20 good sports who joined us at in the extreme heat of Flowers Park in New Rochelle (NY) on June 21 at 8 a.m. for this year’s “Catch It Early” event, a part of our charity’s Catch for the Cure program. As we previously noted, the highlight of the day was an impromptu Q&A about prostate cancer with Little Leaguers about to take the field, several of whom had family members currently dealing with the disease.  

Stay tuned for upcoming NYC-area “Catch It Early” gatherings and two to three Catch for the Cure national events we are trying to squeeze into 2025.

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

Men's Support Group

• Thursday, August 7 at 7 PM ET – Register for the Men's Support Group meeting. 
• Thursday, August 21 at 7 PM ET

Women's Support Group

• Tuesday, August 5 at 8 PM ET – Register for the Women's Support Group meeting.
• Tuesday, August 19 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.

We thank Bayer for generously underwriting the technical and production costs associated with Fans for the Cure’s Online Men’s and Women’s/Caregivers’ Support Groups.

Over the past twenty years, Fans for the Cure has been fortunate to develop a strong network of trusted doctors, many of whom practice at NCI-Designated Cancer Centers and highly regarded regional hospitals. We are always available to assist you in finding a prostate cancer-focused physician or multidisciplinary team to guide you and your loved ones through all phases of the disease.

For timely referrals in all fifty states and Canada, please get in touch with us at (888) 301-4414 or via the orange button below. We promise to get back to you within twenty-four hours at the very latest.

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. How is PSA used to monitor prostate cancer? – Published by Harvard Medical School
2. New study uncovers how prostate cancer becomes deadly and offers hope for new treatments
3. A prostate cancer survivor struggles with aftereffects of treatment
4. Prostate Cancer Mortality on Active Surveillance Low at 25 Years, but Significant – At 25 years, the prostate cancer-specific survival rate was 94% among men with screen-detected prostate cancer who chose primary active surveillance – but prostate cancer progression rates are high.
5. NYU Cancer & Survivorship Education Webinar Library – The Perlmutter Cancer Center's Outreach and Survivorship Program has offered the following links to the latest insights on cancer prevention, early detection, screening, clinical trials, and survivorship care.
   1. Events: nyulangone.org/cancer 
   2. Webinar Library: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtpsP4ts2Psdjz0WqReToN5xY075e69pq
   3. Subscribe to Newsletter: connect.nyulangone.org/email-preferences/sign-up

Please consider making a donation in support of our programs. Your gift, regardless of its size, helps us serve the prostate cancer community.

Call us: 888-301-4414