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New Pledges

The donations are beginning to flow and I’m extremely grateful for your support. Returning donors are the foundation of this initiative but we’re also looking for new sources of support. Please feel free to let me know if you’d like to know more about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s diverse approaches to helping patients with blood cancer extend their lives and create customized treatment programs in our byzantine healthcare system. 

Thank you once again, 

Eric  

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Click here to support LLS

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Pledges are starting to come in  - let’s close out October with a strong finish!

Season XI Kickoff

It’s time to start fundraising for the 2019 marathon season to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (”LLS”). It’s hard to believe this tradition started back in 2009 and has continued through nearly a dozen races in several states and two foreign countries. Each marathon presents an opportunity to solicit pledges for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a venerable organization that has raised more than $1.3 billion for advanced research to cure leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other blood cancers. LLS also provides vital patient services that include a patient co-pay assistance, information specialists and caregiver support. 

The next marathon is in Philadelphia on November 29, 2019, and you can pledge your support with donations of any size on a secure website maintained by LLS. The fundraising goal for this year is $3,000, which brings the overall fundraising total to more than $30,000. 

Please check back often for updates and feel free to leave your own posts!

Thank you in advance for your support, 

-Eric 

ebaum510@gmail.com

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Training is on track after a 14k race in Utica, NY this morning!

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Training is right on schedule!

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Please click here to support LLS!

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Season XI Kickoff

It’s time to start fundraising for the 2019 marathon season to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (”LLS”). It’s hard to believe this tradition started back in 2009 and has continued through nearly a dozen races in several states and two foreign countries. Each marathon presents an opportunity to solicit pledges for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a venerable organization that has raised more than $1.3 billion for advanced research to cure leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other blood cancers. LLS also provides vital patient services that include a patient co-pay assistance, information specialists and caregiver support. 

The next marathon is in Philadelphia on November 29, 2019, and you can pledge your support with donations of any size on a secure website maintained by LLS. The fundraising goal for this year is $3,000, which brings the overall fundraising total to more than $30,000. 

Please check back often for updates and feel free to leave your own posts!

Thank you in advance for your support, 

-Eric 

ebaum510@gmail.com

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Thank You

We raised approximately $2,000 for the Blue Card Fund and made the world a slightly better place. I am very proud of what we have achieved and look forward to the next race in Philadelphia on November 24, 2019! Training begins immediately, and please check in for additional information. 

Thank you once again for your support!

Sincerely,

Eric Baum

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Initial Support

The Baum family has sent out a widespread appeal to more than 200 recipients and the initial responses are very encouraging. Check back for updates about the Blue Card, Bayshore Marathon and new developments in this initiative.

Thank you once again for your support, and please feel free to share this race link!

-Eric  

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Pledge here to support The Blue Card

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What is The Blue Card?

The Mission of The Blue Card is to provide direct financial assistance to needy Holocaust survivors.

Of the nearly 2,500 Holocaust survivor households The Blue Card serves, three-quarters are over the age of 75 and nearly 70% live alone. Many of these survivors struggle to afford basic needs, such as adequate food and healthcare; more than half of them fall 200% below the federal poverty line, meaning their income is less than $23,540 annually.

The Blue Card clients profile:

Range in age from 73-107 years old

78% have difficulty performing daily activities such as dressing, washing, and cooking

77% are women

67% cannot leave their homes without assistance

As these men and women age, they are plagued with the consequences of surviving the most devastating conditions imaginable, including poor nutrition and no medical care.

Many survivors came to this country after World War II and worked in menial jobs. Tiny pensions from those jobs, social security, and Medicaid simply cannot keep up with the financial needs of this most vulnerable population. They are frequently desperate for uncovered expenses such as dental care, hearing aids, and transportation to doctors.

After all they have suffered, these men and women should not have to choose between paying for food or paying for medicine. Dignity was forcibly taken from them during the Holocaust, and The Blue Card ensures that its clients don't lose their dignity again, in their last years.

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Fundraising Kickoff

The French Riviera marathon emerged from some thing of a “you only live once” (YOLO) moment earlier this year during the selection process for a 10th season with Team in Training (TNT), the sports fundraising arm for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Training started in June and the weekly mileage is beginning to accumulate. 

Over the years we’ve drawn support from family and friends across the country. This year the idea of running abroad seems especially poignant considering the political fissures that are emerging between longstanding allies. Under these circumstances, it’s more important than ever to move forward as functional citizens of the word and continue to support worthwhile causes. 

Please return to this blog for regular updates on the race, LLS, life in Nice and other items of interest. I’ll do my best to stay away from posts about running, which can be phenomenally uninteresting to readers who engage in other forms of exercise.

Thank you in advance for your support, and please don’t forget that pledges through TNT’s secure link start at a buck.

Eric  

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Thank You

It’s the night before the 2017 NYC marathon we’re about to find out if anyone really sleeps before a big race. The team bus leaves Grand Central Station at 6 a.m. and wave # 2 joins a procession of more than 50,000 runners at 10 a.m. This is arguably one of the biggest sporting events on the planet and nothing feels quite the way it did in 2009 or 2010. 

It goes without saying that this has been a difficult year of struggle and profound change. Earlier this week eight people were lost to a the types of cowardly attacks witnessed in the U.K and Israel. The political landscape has become nearly unrecognizable, and many of the most basic assumptions we took for granted are now being called into question. 

When times are uncertain we reach for the familiar, and few things bring people together like a marathon. Whatever happens tomorrow it will be an honor to close this season with the knowledge that we met our commitments for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It’s been a long road to November 5, 2017, and the outpouring of generosity leading up to this day gives me a good reason to feel optimistic. 

Once again we’ve accomplished something very important, and this year it seems especially salient. We’ll be back next year because we choose to make a difference. 

Thank you, 

Eric 

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Your Pledge Dollars at Work

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) applauds today’s approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of inotuzumab ozogamicin (Besponsa®) for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

This year alone, it is estimated that almost 6,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with ALL. This approval is a significant step forward because it provides a new option for adult patients with ALL who have not responded to treatment, or whose cancer has come back after treatment.

The targeted therapy is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), which works by first binding an antibody to the surface of B-cell ALL cancer cells that express the CD22 antigen. When the antibody binds to the cell, it releases a highly potent toxin inside the cell. The toxin, known as calicheamicin, binds to the DNA and then blocks tumor cell growth.

“It has been an incredible journey for calicheamicin, which was discovered in the 1980s, and ultimately conjugated to an antibody,” said Dr. Lee Greenberger, Chief Scientific Officer, LLS. “Although LLS did not have a role in advancing this therapy, we are hopeful about the promise of targeted therapy approaches like this one for cancer patients, who deserve new and more effective treatments.”

This is the fourth antibody drug conjugate approved for the treatment of cancer. The first one, gentuzumab ozogamycin (Mylotarg®), was approved for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in 2000, but later removed from the market in 2010. Mylotarg® is currently being reconsidered by the FDA to return to the market. Other antibody drug conjugates are approved for the treatment of breast cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma.

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Your Pledge Dollars at Work

August 3, 2017 (Rye Brook, NY) - The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) applauds the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval today of CPX-351 (VyxeosTM), an innovative combination of two chemotherapy drugs being used to treat two high-risk subgroups of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. After more than four decades of little progress in treating AML, this approval marks the third drug approval for AML patients in just the past three months. LLS contributed sustained and significant support to advance this therapy.

LLS has funded the development of Vyxeos since 2009 through its Therapy Acceleration Program® (TAP). Under the TAP initiative, LLS partners directly with biotechnology companies to accelerate the development of promising therapies for unmet medical needs, many of which otherwise might not receive support. LLS partnered with Celator Pharmaceuticals, the developer of Vyxeos, through TAP; Celator was acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals last year.

The FDA approved Vyxeos to treat newly diagnosed adult AML patients who acquire AML after being treated for a previous cancer, a complication that occurs in approximately 8-10 percent of patients treated for cancer. Vyxeos also is approved for patients whose AML developed after progressing from a diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome, another form of blood cancer.

“The vision for our innovative Therapy Acceleration Program® has become a reality with this approval, which will help patients with high-risk AML who are in desperate need of more options,” said Louis J. DeGennaro, LLS president and CEO. “From the start, LLS recognized the potential of Vyxeos, and we are very gratified by this opportunity to deliver better treatments and outcomes for patients with high-risk AML. In its 10th year, TAP is demonstrating its effectiveness at accelerating cancer treatments, as Vyxeos is the first TAP-supported therapy approved by the FDA, a significant achievement for LLS’s venture philanthropy model. More LLS-supported therapies are currently under FDA review.”

AML is one of the most deadly blood cancers. There are 21,000 people diagnosed each year in the United States and 10,000 deaths. The standard treatment for AML has changed very little in more than 40 years. Vyxeos takes the two standard chemotherapy drugs and combines them in a single infusion to deliver a more optimal ratio of the drugs with less toxicity.