Dear Family & Friends,
Welcome to my 2015 personal Pine Tree Apple Tennis Classic (PTATC) fundraising page!
I'm proud to be playing in my 23rd PTATC tournament this year! Nathalie Odryznski, my partner for the past several years, is unable to play this year as she is out in California on work assignment. So, my former Gopher teammate and current head women's coach at the University of Minnesota (Chuck Merzbacher), connected me with Tereza Brichacova who played #1 singles and doubles for the team last year. Tereza is from the Czech Republic and playing in her first Pine Tree tournament. I'm excited to play in the Open Draw with Tereza.
Overall, this is the 30th Pine Tree event with over $4.5 million raised to improve the lives of children with cancer not just at Children's Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota, but throughout the world.
An incredible 83 cents of each dollar raised goes directly to fund our research efforts which includes:
- Two international rare tumor registries that have directly led to an increase in the survival rate for children diagnosed with these tumors.
- Research foused on methodologies and treatment advancements to help improve the physical and mental capacity of children who have gone through cancer treatment.
- Publication of multiple peer manuscripts as well as national and international conferences. This allows oncologists to share research results with physicians, patients and families throughout the world.
These are just a few of the key research areas that Pine Tree supports. The impact of what started as a small grass-roots event back in 1986 has been amazing; however, our work is not done. Please join our fight for a cure by sponsoring me in this year's event. Any amount you can contribute is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your continued support!
Kevin