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MARF has come a long way in a few short years. We've quadrupled our staff from one to four. We've quintupled the number of grants we've awarded from two to ten. We've increased the number of our donors from a few dozen to several hundred.  We've even got the blue wristbands. But , alas, we don't have a race for a cure. And I will not rest until we do.

MARF is like a Swiss watch. There's many parts working together, each essential.. Tonight I want to introduce to you a few key players on MARF's team, plus a few others who may not wear MARF's uniform but they fight our fight.   Disclaimer: If those of you mentioned are offended, don't worry, "what plays in Vegas stays in Vegas." If you are not mentioned, consider yourself lucky.

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Our mission to eradicate meso wouldn't be legitimate if we didn't have our own Czar.  Last year I nominated Dr. Harvey Pass. The good news is that nobody objected.  The bad news is nobody voted at all. So tonight I'm just going to use my authority as founding director and appoint Dr. Pass to the post.

Why Dr. Pass? Is it because he's a master surgeon? A pioneer in the search for meso biomarkers? A prolific author of articles and textbooks? A gifted speaker who's been around the world lecturing on meso medicine? Is it because he despises medical "nihilism" and abhors knowledge hoarding "isolated fiefdoms?" Is it because he's advocated for meso research funding at press conferences on Capitol Hill?  No. MARF exists to help meso patients and their families. You cant help them if you don't talk to them. Pass is our Czar essentially because he's the first doctor since Dr. Marcus Welby to actually return his patient's phone calls. 

 
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A czar can't win a war by himself. He needs a army of dedicated officers and foot soldiers.  Chris Hahn is on the front line everyday. He's in the trenches, educating patients, networking with doctors, monitoring the progress of our grants, and raising funds.

You know Chris as the infinitely patient, warm hearted and cordial executive director of MARF.  But I know Chris as "Genghis Hahn" a nom de guerre he earned when he was a national champion bike racer. Off the bike, a boy scout. On the bike, a holy terror. 

As you can see, come crunch time, when the margin between victory and defeat is razor thin, and danger is all around, you can always rely on Chris to do whatever's necessary. ...he could go * all * the* way.... Crash!

Since he's retired from hurly-burly, bar-banging field sprints, he's mellowed. But, to be sure, don't sneak up on him while he's eating.

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Joining Genghis on the front lines is another seasoned warrior. Col. Jim Zumwalt is a modern day Odysseus, who by day can sleigh a battalion of dragons but by night can play the lute so sweetly he can bring tears to your eyes.  Jim knows all about service, having been a marine for most of his life.

He also knows about sacrifice, having lost his brother to Agent Orange leukemia and his father, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, to meso.  Col. Zumwalt has long advocated that the government accept its duty to fund meso research. And the Zumwalt family was the first family to my knowledge to use their private tort claim to persuade a former asbestos manufacturer to donate to MARF.

I'd share a fox hole with this soldier any day.

Our next big shooter does not flinch in the face of fear. Hails from the mean streets of Chicago. Recently transplanted to the bright, blinking lights of Las Vegas. He enjoys opera, a dusty bottle of Amaroni, and Italian art. He's never met a tumor he didn't want to obliterate, the Godfather of Meso Oncology, our very own '' Dr. Nick "the Heater" Vogelzang.

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Generals can't win a war without foot soldiers and Marf has some of the best.  You've heard the phrase "killing with kindness?" Well if that's true  this next soldier is positively lethal. He's a 4 year survivor. He writes a journal about his journey that is read by thousands across the globe. He is a fountain of encouragement.  He's an ombudsman, a sci-fi author, a submarine warfare wonk, a pastry chef, a quick study with a quick wit, a lover of small animals....he is, our very own Director of Communications-- Mr. Klaus Brauch.

Mark Twain once said "No army can withstand the assault of laughter." That may be true. But for Klaus, meso is hardly a laughing matter. Yes, he uses laughter to cope with his chronic illness, but he'd be the first to use a flamethrower on his unwanted guest if he had the chance. Klaus  has dedicated his life to MARF's mission-- to eradicate meso as a life-ending disease -- (in his words)  "as if his life depended on it." And we thank him.

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We all know that when one spouse gets sick the other feels the pain. The old saying is hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and this pretty much sums up the spirit of Julie Williams. When her husband, a medical doctor, was diagnosed, their bond became stronger ( as you all know).  They've been to DC a few times to advocate for research, and Dr. Williams was instrumental in building an alliance of patients and doctors to educate Congress about the extraordinary financial hardships faced by patients who wished to purse expensive multi-modal treatments.  Julie would like to get angry, but she knows you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. For the most part, she's as sweet as a peach, but when push comes to shove, she's tough as a combat boot.

As Julie says, "Brett speaks softly, but I'm the big stick." Together, they're a powerful force. And we're all better for it.

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We know that too often a great idea advanced by good people doesn't always succeed. Sometimes it takes a hammer. This next foot-soldier, Paul Zygielbaum, doesn't belong to a famous family. But, like the Zumwalts, he wasn't satisfied with simply resolving his own injury claim, knowing that the public meso epidemic would still rage on. Paul put his foot down. He refused to settle his legal claim until the defendant matched their settlement offer with a donation in the same amount to medical research. 

The company relented and did the right thing. This is an anecdote that I hope can serve as a model for using the civil justice system to both compensate injured individuals and resolve the larger, public health crisis.

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-- incidentally, Paul and his wife just returned from a trip to Ireland, where he reports that he tolerated the chemo surrogate favored by the locals quite well.

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Speaking of raising money, it's a fact that sex does sell, and MARF has its own stable of beauty queens. These two lovely ladies, Nancy and Alice, each lost the love of their life, but they never lost their love for life, nor their unshakeable commitment to helping others. Together, they have organized dance-a-thons to help raise awareness and precious dollars for meso research.

They are currently holding auditions for the Radio City Marfettes, which I'm told will perform for us at next year's conference. Please apply.

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Whatever it takes. By the way, tonight  when you hit the town, if you see this lovely lady, Sandy Hazen, later on the Strip, don't forget to tip handsomely.  All proceeds go to MARF.

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Every day we find new recruits who want badly to get into the game, to do their part in improving the lives of all meso patients.  This next die hard, Bob Bulldog Treggett, another "one lung wonder," flew down from Seattle to a fundraiser in Los Angeles. Not only did he give a very large donation to MARF, he practically begged me for an assignment. "Put me in Coach, I want to be MARF's poster boy, I'll talk, I'll write letters,  I'll do whatever it takes, just put me in!"  It would be easy for meso patients to sit on the bench. But we are blessed to have the privilege to work with patients like Bob who are eager to flex their muscle. And you do have power, Our goal at MARF is to help you exercise that power.

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As Jordan Zevon knows, MARF's mission attracts unlikely champions. Most of us had never even heard the word before a loved one was diagnosed.  Remember last year the stirring performance Jordan gave, made all the more poignant because his violinist had just recently lost her husband to meso. MARF held a fundraiser concert recently, and the headliner, Chris Botti, admitted he had never heard of meso before we asked him to play. But it turns out, Botti's drummer, Billy Kilson, who played that night like he was on fire, came up to me after the show and said: "I didnt even know what the gig was about until I heard you mention "mesothelioma" --that's what my mom just died from." She was a school teacher. Billy offered to help us in any way he could. That's another reminder that meso can strike just about anywhere, at anytime, in anybody. 

BTW: one look at Chris Botti, and I know why women can't stand to see Charlize Theron, Eliz Hurley or Catherine Zeta Jones. I'll never look like that.

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Money, charm, muscle, sex appeal and passion are still not enough, we've learned, when it comes to winning the war against meso. We need boots on the ground in the corridors of power on Capitol Hill.

This year history was made when a US marine named Billy Speicher testified before the US Senate. He said that our federal government had a moral duty to fund research for meso treatments. Billy noted that about 1/3 of mesos dxd in this country proudly served their country. Billy was tired of being stonewalled, placated and ignored. He stood up for all of us when he demanded the truth. 

Sen. Specter sort of agreed with Billy that the feds do have a major role to play in curing this disease. He agreed to look into what the NCI was doing to help advance meso research. But I'm not so sure that Sen. Specter could handle the truth.

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Why do I say that? Well, about that time MARF retained its own activists in Washington DC.  MARF has always championed the need for a line item  appropriation for  an independent meso research and treatment program. During the mark up of the FAIR act, we were approached by Sen Herb Kohl, who saw and liked MARF's proposal. Sen. Kohl added MARF's research program to the FAIR act, a program which would fund 10 treatment and research centers, a tissue bank, a  clinical database, and other essentials, in the amount of $29 million per year. A little over half of that was to be paid by industry, and the feds would pay about $12 million into the program.

Our two sleuths, Mary Beth and Jennie, did some digging. They discovered that Sen. Specter had never pulled the strings necessary to appropriate the government's share. It was in fact an unfunded mandate.  A trick designed to garner the meso community's support for the bill

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Jennie and Mary Beth have been following the money. They have found a few senators who endorse MARF's mission. And these senators want to help. But they are pragmatic. I wish I could report that Sen. Specter, who is chairman of the committee that appropriates funds to the National Institute of Health, has found new money for the creation of a meso treatment program. But I can't.  Between two costly wars, two hurricane clean ups, and a  mounting deficit, the feds right now are looking for ways to cut existing social and medical programs. They simply are not in the mood to fund new cancer research programs, no matter how worthy.

The Good news is that because of MARF's pressure, SPecter did agree to earmark $1M to NIOSH for the funding of a meso database/registry through the CDC. Not much, but a start.

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Thankfully, we found that voice, belonging to MARFs very own Susan Vento, who like her protégé, Dr. Laura, has been on the airwaves the last few months spreading the good word, raising awareness, and scolding the doom and gloomers.

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With all the hollering and hullaballo, it's tempting to engage in every fight, join every crusade. Fortunately, we have somebody to keep MARF on the straight and narrow. This doctor has a keen ear for balderdash and a fine filter for fiddlesticks.

For the past 5 years, this rock of a man has thankfully shot down every admittedly hair-brained notion I've ever floated by MARF's directors. His name is Dr. Robert Taub. I've learned never to go into a meeting with this bull moose without having all of my facts triple checked and cross referenced.

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MARF is focused on eradicating meso but we are mindful that there are other diseases associated with asbestos.  For years, meso has thought to be incurable, but so has asbestosis. Dr. Mike Harbut, one of our directors,  agrees that meso research should be a priority. But he has been arguing for years that asbestosis can be treated too, if we only had the budget and the will. Industry, Congress, even trial lawyers have recieved his message about as warmly as the Roman Inquisition heard Galileo's theory that the earth moved around the sun.  

I want to give Dr. Harbut a special "Dont let the bastards grind you down!" tribute for his courage and faith. And for the wonderful work he's doing in Libby, Montana. One day we hope that the Flat Earthers will open their ears, and their wallets, and fund research for meso and all asbestos-related diseases.

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Nobody represents MARF's can-do spirit better than our co-founder, Dr. Robert Cameron. He's in the trenches 24-7. In fact I should be thanking his wife and kids. He's teaching residents, he's operating in a way that spares the lung, he's researching ways to bolster the body's own immune system to fight meso, he's developed a user-friendly clinical database, and he was the principal architect of MARF's legislative agenda.

His patients have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to MARF, a testament to Dr. Cameron's leadership.  When we need answers, he's the go to guy. He does the heavy lifting. In my mind, he's The Fixer.  Unafraid to do whatever's in the patient's best interest.

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He's also unafraid of getting his pants sued off by trial lawyers. He's probably the only surgeon in the world who's so comfortable with his skills that he doesn't mind too much getting the third degree by someone like me while he's got his hands in his patient's chest cavity.  That's confidence. Not to mention concentration.

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The final slide is a tribute to my personal hero.

At MARF, we've always said that persons should give commensurate with their wealth, knowledge and compassion.

This next person is not a fortune 500 company. She doesn't have a market cap. She does not own islands, speedboats, private jets, or a sky box at the football stadium. She lives on a fixed income.  She had never heard of mesothelioma until her husband, an electrician, got diagnosed in 1999. Then she learned very quickly that meso is an ugly cancer that needs to go.

No, she's not wealthy, but she has a heart of gold. She's my inspiration.  I am proud to present to you, the Patron Saint of MARF, a widow who so believed in helping others before helping herself that she donated her entire legal recovery to MARF. My friend and idol, Barbara Hoffacker.