Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Ulman Cancer Funds - Eleven The Event

On Monday night, after a much longer time in the Orlando Airport than I had planned, I went to Howard Community College with my fiancé Jim and my sisters Heather and Cathy to the Ulman Cancer Fund's Fundraising and Anniversary Event - Eleven the Event.

Eleven the Event included a silent auction, a live auctions and presentations of several annual awards given by the Ulman Cancer Fund to acknowledge people who are working to make a difference for Young Adults and their families facing Cancer Diagnosis.

I was very honored and humbled to have been named the recipient of their 2009 Young Adult "FIGHT" Award for my personal cancer survivorship and my work in starting the CANCER to 5K Program.  The event also honored the following groups and individuals for their outstanding commitment to the UCF and young adults fighting cancer:

The Founders Award to HGTV’s Vern Yip
The Partner Award to Howard County General Hospital: A Member of Johns Hopkins Medicine
The Volunteer Award to Felix Scherzinger & Eden Stotsky for their work on Long After Cancer
The Hope Award to Dr. Kevin Cullen of University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center.

The event also featured inspiring remarks HGTV host and UCF Founders Award recipient, Vern Yip, along with an advanced screening of an episode of Deserving Design which featured the story of young adult cancer survivor & UCF Scholarship recipient Christina Gavegnano.

It was a wonderful night and the Auction was a HUGE success! I personally bid on three items (I LOVE SILENT AUCTIONS FOR GOOD CAUSES!). I bid on an Autographed copy of Time Magazine with Lance Armstrong and a Pair of Oakley Sunglasses, a custom Pet portrait (oil painting) and this fantastic chair that was designed with the theme of HOPE! as it related to Cancer and Cancer Survivorship. Sadly I was outbid on the Pet Portrait and the Lance Armstrong Cover/Glasses (by only $10.00!!!) but I was RELENTLESS about getting that chair, hovering around until the very last minute to make sure I wasn't outbid.

In the end, the CHAIR was mine!

It was an amazing night, I was honored to be recognized and acknowledged for my survivorship and my work with CANCER to 5K. One of the runners from our program entered a contest offered by the Ulman Cancer Fund giving away 2 free tickets to Young Adult Cancer Survivors to attend the event for free and get the chance to meet Vern Kip prior to the event. Jessica T. wrote an essay and I was thrilled to get her message that she won tickets and it was wonderful to see her and her husband Michael at the event. Jessica is currently training for her first Half Marathon through Team in Training and still volunteers with CANCER to 5K!

It was a very special evening and it meant the world to me that Jim and my sisters Heather and Cathy were able to share that moment with me. If you are on FACEBOOK and are a friend of mine, you can see the video of the presentation because Heather posted it on my wall but here are few pictures from the event.

Outside the Event...

Cathy, Holly & Heather at Eleven the Event

Jim & Holly at Eleven the Event

Heading to the car, post-event, Jim is caring my Hope Chair/Art

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