COMMUNITY
RAHOOL AND KUNTAL VORA Area Supported: Head and Neck Cancer Research By Lynn Clark
BROTHERS LIVE DAD’S LEGACY: “DON’T TALK, TAKE ACTION.” Naren Vora thought golf was a dumb game. But if he could experience the good his sons, Rahool and Kuntal, have done with a golf tournament, he might change his mind. By June, the Naren A. Vora Memorial Golf Tournament will have raised more than $50,000 for head and neck cancer research at the University of Colorado Cancer Center in just three years. The Vora brothers are not satisfied with that number and have just made a pledge to raise $100,000 for the center’s burgeoning research program in memory of their father, a man whose mantra throughout their lives was “Don’t talk, take action.” Naren immigrated from India in 1967 to attend the University of Northern Colorado. He earned a master’s degree in education, and in 1977 started a photography and video services company. “He became successful to the point he wanted to be,” Rahool says. “He wanted to provide well for his family but have freedom. He was a kind, gentle spirit.” Naren was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2005. He came to the CU Cancer Center in 2007 to be treated by radiation oncologist David Raben, MD. “Once we met with Dr. Raben, my dad, my brother and I came to the consensus that he was someone my dad should have seen at the beginning of the process,” Rahool says. “We wound up losing our dad in September 2007. We believe that, had he been treated at the Cancer Center from the beginning, he would probably still be alive.” Head and neck cancer—tumors that originate in the mouth or throat—is a devastating
10 | C3: SPRING 2011 | WWW.COLORADOCANCERCENTER.ORG
disease, leaving many of its victims disfigured and unable to taste. While diagnosis is declining in older men who are heavy drinkers and smokers, it is rising in men ages 30 to 45 due to infection with carcinogenic versions of the human papilloma virus. About 25,800 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease this year and about 5,300 will die from it, according to the American Cancer Society.
“Dr. Wang once told us that we are sending a message that not only millionaires can make a difference.” The CU Cancer Center’s head and neck cancer research and care program is on the leading edge of understanding the disease and rocketing treatment into the 21st century with targeted therapies. In 2008, the center recruited one of the world’s foremost basic scientists in head and neck cancer, Xiao-Jing Wang, MD. In 2010, Antonio Jimeno, MD, PhD, launched the nation’s first cancer stemcell clinical trials program with an early-phase trial of a drug that targets head and neck cancer. The Voras’ fundraising made that work was made possible by a new tissue bank. “The Cancer Center is making good use of the money we’ve raised,” Kuntal says. “They are going down very innovative paths for this disease. We have one of the best-kept secrets right in our own back yard. You look at the collection of talent they’ve collected, you look at the passion of these doctors, and that in and of itself serves as motivation to support them.” Special events are notoriously difficult fundraisers, with operational costs often eating up profit. The Vora tournament started small, with a few dozen friends and family members. The brothers minimized costs, relying heavily
on donations for prizes and paying operational costs out of their own pockets for the first two years. Now they’re partnering with AMC Cancer Fund, the Cancer Center’s grassroots fundraising partner, to put on the tournament. Proceeds from the first year went to a different organization. But Raben came to the tournament and spoke to attendees about what he and his collaborators at CU hoped to accomplish. That day, the Voras decided to make the CU Cancer Center the event’s beneficiary. “Our initial commitment was $10,000, and we more than fulfilled that so we made a larger commitment,” Rahool says. “We’ve tried to fashion something in the spirit of our dad. He wasn’t a golfer, but we knew he’d want us to take action. We have done that, taking a personal tragedy and turning it into something positive.” He says he hopes their fundraising efforts will help CU researchers develop treatments that can enhance quality of life, “but certainly the brass ring is a cure. It seems like one of those nebulous ideas, but when you’re around the folks at the CU Cancer Center, it feels like it’s within reach.” Kuntal says it’s hard not to feel a sense of pride every time he walks into the research buildings on the Anschutz Medical Campus. “We know regardless of the size of the monetary commitment, big things are going to come out of it,” he says. “Dr. Wang once told us that we are sending a message that not only millionaires can make a difference.”
2011 Naren A. Vora Memorial Golf Tournament June 11, Raccoon Creek Golf Course Register at http://www.amc.org/events.html