Byron White, organizer of the Lost Ball Golf Tournament, has joked that he�d like to become the Magic Johnson of testicular cancer.
"I�m comfortable going public with my story," says this survivor of testicular cancer. "I want to make people aware that it�s a real simple procedure to check yourself for lump � it�s much easier to detect than say breast cancer."
Last year, the Lost Ball Tournament was in its first year with its appropriate double-entendre name but in its third official year of raising money for the Jimmy Fund. More than 110 participants helped to raise $10,000 for cancer care and research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This year White hopes to raise more than $20,000.
"We�ve had a lot of support from sponsors and from the graphics industry," says White, who is president of his own company, Freelance Access, a graphic arts placement agency, "but we�re hoping to grow."
This year�s event will be held on Sept. 15 at the refurbished Wentworth-by-the-Sea golf course in Portsmouth, N.H. "It�s a beautiful course, with incredible ocean views," says White.
Help with the organizing the tournament comes from his own business. "We literally shut down operations for the few days surrounding the event," says White. But he�s glad to do it to raise money for the Jimmy Fund, not just for himself but for others who have had cancer.
"It was a college friend, Hal Sizer, who served a s the catalyst for putting this tournament together," says White. "When I found out he had a child that went through treatment at Dana-Farber, we put our heads together," Sizer now helps in recruiting sponsors for the event. Last year�s sponsors include:
Carlisle Plastics
Quinn Printing Company
Freelance Access, Inc.
Friedman & Atherton
Foster Design
Harbor Capital Management, Inc.
New Boston
Odyssey Cruises
Paul Revere Insurance
Daniels Printing
"We�ve had an incredibly positive response to the name," notes White, who is a patient of Phillip Kantoff, M.D., director of Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber. "We draw the connection between the name of the tournament and why we�re raising money," he adds. "We make people get it."