| Race to benefit cancer research | ||
| (This story appeared in The Clarion-Ledger on February 27, 2005) |
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By Lisa Uzzle Gates Special To The Clarion-Ledger It’s a common thing that can become a big thing that can become a deadly thing. That’s the message a local nonprofit organization wants to spread to elementary students across the state about exposure to the sun. Keith Warren and Marshall Ramsey, both employees of The Clarion-Ledger, founded the Leonard E. Warren Melanoma Foundation in 2003 to raise awareness of skin cancer. Keith Warren is the son of the late Leonard Warren, who died in 1997 from melanoma. Ramsey has had melanoma. They sponsored the Run From the Sun 5K Race for the first time last year, raising $9,000. They donated $5,000 to the Melanoma Research Foundation to help fund research efforts to find a cure for the deadly form of skin cancer. The remainder of the money was used to partner with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Clinic of Houston, Texas and donate Project S.A.F.E.T.Y modules to teachers. The kits contain an 85-page teacher’s guide and a CD-ROM with streaming video and animated graphics to complement the three-lesson series. The kits have been delivered to fourth grade classes at Philadelphia Elementary, Neshoba Central Elementary and Oak Forest Elementary in Jackson, and will be delivered in the next few weeks to Pearl Upper Elementary and Woodville Heights Elementary. Warren and Ramsey wanted to donate to Jackson-district schools and to schools in Neshoba County, because that is where Leonard E. Warren lived his entire life. “We felt it was important to get these into the elementary schools, because research has shown the most sun damage occurs before we are 18 years old. Those sunburns you have as a child can become a real problem when you are in your forties,” said Warren, president of the foundation. “Our goal over the next few years is to make sure every student in Mississippi is aware of melanoma and how to protect against it.” Ellen Prince read the information her daughter Rebecca brought home from Philadelphia Elementary about the curriculum. “I think it’s a very good idea. I know it is something I have been aware of with my children,” she said of sun exposure. “The donation is a wonderful thing for this family to do for the school children. It was very thoughtful.” Michael Coco, principal at Oak Forest Elementary, said the information will be incorporated into the science curriculum for all of the school’s fourth-graders after the first of March. Coco has battled basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer that begins in the outer layer of the skin and does not usually spread to other parts of the body. Coco said the experience made him more aware of the need to understand what exposure to the sun can do. He thinks it’s an important message for the students to learn as well. Ramsey, editorial cartoonist for The Clarion-Ledger, delivered the kits to Oak Forest Elementary and talked to the students about his own experience with the disease. He has had one malignant melanoma, two melanoma in-situs and 70 other moles removed in the past five years. “Because I went to the doctor and the malignant melanoma was removed early, I have a pretty good chance of survival. Melanoma, once it spreads, is very tough, if not impossible to cure. The survival rates drop into single digits once it gets to your organs,” Ramsey said. Warren knows that too well. His father died of melanoma eight years ago this month. Warren said the mole was on his father’s back and by the time it was discovered, it had spread to his organs. “He was old-fashioned and he didn’t ever want to go to the doctor,” Warren recalled. “When he finally did go for something else entirely, they found the melanoma, but it was already too far along.” Warren said one of the most troubling things about this form of cancer is that it is very easily treatable and curable when caught early, but if ignored it can quickly become fatal. “Keith was about the only person who understood what I was going through at the time,” Ramsey said. “He had recently lost his Dad to the disease and knew how serious it was. I had had people actually tell me, ‘You don’t have cancer. You just have skin cancer.’ Keith and I decided that we wanted to raise awareness of the disease and wanted to prevent others from having to deal with what we had to deal with,” Ramsey said. They got off to a good start last year, with more than 300 people participating in the late afternoon race. Dr. Ken Barraza did free screenings on more than 100 people. They will offer screenings again this year at the race, set for April 16 in downtown Jackson. “I think we have an uphill battle. But if we can save one person, then our efforts are worth it,” Ramsey said. For more information or to register, visit www. runfromthesun. com. |
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