Hi Paul,
Thanks so much for contacting me. What can I say? You know how I feel. I am deeply honored and humbled in your faith and interest in our research, and we want to do everything possible to not only understand how to cure more children with these horrible cancers, but to honor Eli’s memory. Everyone who contributes to Eli’s legacy feels exactly the same way as I do. Clearly, your long list of generous donors is evidence that Eli touched a lot of lives and left a big hole in a lot of hearts. You might be aware that we are in the midst of the toughest research funding climate in our nation’s history. As you’ve mentioned, even during high times, funding for children’s cancer research is limited and lags behind funding for many other diseases. I fear what’s going to happen as the amount of research dollars continue to shrink. Many promising researchers with unique ideas won’t have a chance. However, dedicated individuals such as yourself, your loving community in Oxford, PA and anyone who supports charitable organizations such as the Eli Seth Matthews Leukemia Foundation send the message that we’re not going to stand by and let children die unnecessarily because we’re joining the fight and support Eli’s wishes to find a cure. Thank you one and all from the bottom of my heart. I am truly honored.
I’m very much looking forward to meeting with you and your son, Austin, again on the morning of August 10th. I expect to have some new information from our work to share with you. I’m pleased to have some terrific new young scientists working on these questions in my lab, and I hope you’ll have a chance to meet my team. Also, you both met Dr. Bob Hayashi, our oncology division chief, last year and I’m hopeful that he and, perhaps, our chairman Dr. Alan Schwartz will be able to meet you and Austin during your visit. God bless and thank you again for your generous support!
TOTAL DONATED TO DR. DRULEY’S RESEARCH FOR 2012 IS $30,189.64 – $2,689.64 OF THIS WAS FROM LEMONADE EVENTS ALONE.
**Everyone go to this wonderful new web site http://druleylab.wustl.edu/ created by: Heidi Dubrouillet Project Manager…. This is a must listen to from Dr. Druley it’s truly AMAZING!!!! http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/unwinding-helix-using-genetics-treat-childhood-cancer
Best wishes,
Todd
Todd E. Druley, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics
Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology
Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology
Washington University School of Medicine
Family and friends please click on this link to read about Dr. Druley
http://peds.wustl.edu/Default.aspx?alias=peds.wustl.edu/Faculty/Druley_T
