33rd Annual Hutch Holiday Gala Raises Millions for Cancer Immunotherapy Research
SEATTLE, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Saturday's Hutch Holiday Gala raised more
than $2.2 million for cancer and related disease research at Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center.
"Help the Hutch," a portion of the live auction during which guests raise
their bid cards for specific contribution levels, brought in $1.2 million to
be directed toward immunotherapy, through which clinicians harness a patient's
immune system to battle cancer.
The black-tie Gala took place Dec. 6 from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Seattle
Sheraton Hotel. Leading the "Help the Hutch" appeal was Dr. Lee Hartwell,
president and director of the Hutchinson Center, who said donations made
through the annual outreach event are essential to help scientists make
discoveries that improve the future of human health.
"We are fortunate that the community recognizes the need for private
support in the fight against cancer," Hartwell said. "Government grants simply
do not provide the resources necessary to pilot new research ideas or bring
new breakthroughs to patient care.
"Our science has demonstrated the potential of immunotherapy to change the
face of cancer treatment," he said. "Because of the resources required to
develop these novel therapies, we have had to move slowly. Yet our
extraordinary success with these therapies and new information about how to
extend their results has brought us to the point where a major acceleration of
this work is needed."
Funds raised through the "Help the Hutch" portion of the Gala will be used
for an expansion of immunotherapy clinical trials to test their impact on
normally fatal late stage disease for a variety of cancers, Hartwell said.
An example of the Center's success in immunotherapy research was reported
in the June 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, in which a team
led by Cassian Yee, M.D., an associate member of the Clinical Research
Division, described the first successful use of a human patient's cloned
infection-fighting T cells as the sole therapy to put advanced melanoma tumors
into long-term remission. A type of white blood cell was removed from a
52-year-old man who had metastatic Stage 4 melanoma; more such cells were
grown in the lab, then infused into the patient. Two months later the man's
tumors were gone and he remained disease-free two years later, when he was
last checked. Yee and other Center researchers are now expanding clinical
trials that use T-cell therapy to treat advanced tumors.
At the Saturday night Gala, patrons also bid for exclusive auction
packages including a zero-gravity flight with space and science celebrities
including Bonnie Dunbar and Charles Simonyi and Dr. Hartwell, which sold at
$7,500 per person for a total of $157,500; an Italian sojourn at Villa
Madalena, $20,000; a U.S. Open package, $16,000; VIP tickets to the Country
Music Awards, $14,000; and an exclusive July 4 fireworks party on a rooftop
deck at the Hutchinson Center's South Lake Union campus, $13,000.
The evening's festivities included the presentation of the Grace Heffernan
Arnold Guild's 2008 Distinguished Community Service Award to the Swanson
family. Accepting the award were Gerry and Gloria Swanson, who have been
involved with the community for 30 years through such causes as the Hutchinson
Center, Seattle Children's and United Way. The couple's children and their
spouses also support a variety of organizations and, in combination with a
family fund at Children's, established the Swanson Family Endowed Chair in
Pediatric Bone Marrow and Transplantation Research, a chair held by the
Hutchinson Center's Dr. Jean Sanders.
Presented by the Grace Heffernan Arnold Guild and the Hutch Holiday Gala
board of trustees, the Hutch Holiday Gala featured live and silent auctions
and an elegant dinner with hundreds of business and community leaders in
attendance. Through the past three decades the Gala has raised more than $60
million in support of key research initiatives and patient and family programs
at the Hutchinson Center.
To learn more about the Hutch Holiday Gala, call 206-667-5423 or visit
http://www.hutchgala.com. More information about the Hutchinson Center is
available at http://www.fhcrc.org.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, our interdisciplinary teams of
world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent, diagnose
and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Our researchers, including
three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for health,
knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more information,
please visit http://www.fhcrc.org.
