3rd Annual GIST Benefit Ball to Benefit Fox Chase Cancer Center

PHILADELPHIA (January 15, 2012) – Beat the winter blues by attending the 3rd Annual GIST Benefit Ball––an old Hollywood themed casino night that will help raise funds for cancer research at Fox Chase Cancer Center.  The event will take place on Saturday, February 18, from 7-10 p.m. at the Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia (210 West Rittenhouse Square).  Guests attending the ball will enjoy passed hors d'oeuvres and stations, dancing, silent auctions, raffles, music, and of course casino games. 

Julie Cramer and her sister Stephanie Becker-Levitt will be hosting this year’s event in honor of their father, Mark Becker, who died in July 2009 from a soft-tissue sarcoma known as a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)—a relatively rare cancer that begins in the digestive tract or stomach.  Julie and Stephanie’s father lived with the disease for twelve years. 

There are only a handful of hospitals that have researchers dedicated to the study and treatment of GIST—Fox Chase is one of them.  They have some of the nation’s most experienced oncologists and surgeons who treat the disease.  In particular, Fox Chase medical oncologist Margaret von Mehren, MD, has been vital to the development of new drug therapies for GIST patients. 

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit gistbenefitball.weebly.com or contact Julie Cramer at 609-668-9714 or [email protected]. Tickets are $125/per person and include wine and beer.  All proceeds from the event will go to GIST research being done at Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Fox Chase Cancer Center (Fox Chase), which includes the Institute for Cancer Research and the American Oncologic Hospital and is a part of Temple Health, is one of the leading comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as one of the nation’s first cancer hospitals, Fox Chase was also among the first institutions to be designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1974. Fox Chase is also one of just 10 members of the Alliance of Dedicated Cancer Centers. Fox Chase researchers have won the highest awards in their fields, including two Nobel Prizes. Fox Chase physicians are also routinely recognized in national rankings, and the Center’s nursing program has received the Magnet recognition for excellence six consecutive times. Today, Fox Chase conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research, with special programs in cancer prevention, detection, survivorship, and community outreach. It is the policy of Fox Chase Cancer Center that there shall be no exclusion from, or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.

For more information, call 888-369-2427

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