Crystal Ball honoree Billy Starr

[EastCoastLadi]

http://www2.townonline.com/wellesley/ar ... eid=593464

Pan-Mass Challenge founder Billy Starr to be honored by Lung Cancer Alliance at Crystal Ball

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Billy Starr, founder and executive director of the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, will receive the life-time achievement award of the Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA), a national organization that raises funds for eradicating lung cancer. Starr, a Wellesley resident, is one of six to be honored at the LCA's Crystal Ball. He was selected for his leadership and the unmatched fundraising accomplishments of the Pan-Mass Challenge, which Starr founded in 1980, and is now the most successful athletic fundraising event in the world. The PMC has raised more than $170 million for cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. More than $15 million of that sum has funded lung cancer and related research at Dana-Farber.

Starr is the only non-medical professional who will be honored at the Crystal Ball, which will be held at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston on Oct. 21. To be recognized for their incredible contributions to lung cancer research are: Dr. Judah Folkman, Children's Hospital; Dr. Bruce E. Johnson, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Dr. Thomas Lynch and Dr. Douglas J. Mathisen, Massachusetts General Hospital; Dr. Daniel G. Tenen, Harvard Medical School & Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Dr. David Sugarbaker, Brigham & Woman's Hospital; and Dr. Christina Williamson, The Lahey Clinic.

"I am thrilled to be honored alongside these eminent doctors," Starr says. "It is a recognition that dreams can blend together seamlessly in common cause." Event proceeds will benefit LCA's efforts to make lung cancer a national public health priority, as well as support lung cancer research centers at the honored doctors' hospitals.

About the Pan-Mass Challenge

The Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC), presented by the Boston Red Sox and Overstock.com, is the nation's original fundraising bike-a-thon and today raises more money than any other athletic fundraising event in the country. The PMC is a model of efficiency for all nonprofit organizations. Last year, the PMC donated 99 cents of every rider-raised dollar directly to cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through its Jimmy Fund. The PMC generates nearly 50 percent of the Jimmy Fund's annual revenue and is its single largest contributor. In 2006, 4,300 PMC cyclists rode to raise and contributed $25 million to the Jimmy Fund, and to bring the PMC's 27-year contribution to more than $170 million. For more information about the PMC, visit pmc.org.

About the Lung Cancer Alliance

The Lung Cancer Alliance is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to patient support and advocacy for people living with lung cancer and those at risk for the disease. Lung cancer causes more deaths in the United States than any other cancer. Over 60 percent of new lung cancers are diagnoses in people who never smoked or who quit smoking decades before their diagnosis. LCA initiatives aim to make fighting lung cancer a priority for more people and change public perceptions about the disease. For more information, visit lungcanceralliance.org.