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ThinkCure! is an innovative, community-based nonprofit that raises funds to accelerate collaborative research to cure cancer. Learn more »

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ThinkCure! Weekend 2011

Lt. Vincent Garcia looked around and could hardly believe what he was seeing. He was standing on the grass at Dodger Stadium in his Army fatigues, soaking in the pregame atmosphere on the night of June 24.

Hannah Komai, Survivor from City of Hope, After Throwing OutHannah Komai, Survivor from City of Hope, After Throwing Out the First Pitch on Sunday. Photo credit: SooHoo

Just a few months before he'd been in Iraq with his platoon, the 40-year-old father of five serving his country when he started to have some symptoms that told him something might be wrong. When he saw the military doctors, he found out what was wrong: he was diagnosed with cancer. As tickets home go, this was not the one he expected or wanted, though he did find a positive light. "If having cancer is lucky, this is the best one to have," said Garcia. "I have Hodgkin's Lymphoma, so it's 100 percent curable. It's painful. It's brutal. You have to deal with all these side effects from the drugs, but I'm doing alright. I'm happy to be here."

By "here" Garcia meant the Fourth Annual ThinkCure! Weekend, when for three days Dodger fans were encouraged to donate money to raise money in the fight against cancer. A partnership between the Dodgers, City of Hope and Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, ThinkCure! funds collaborative cancer research in hopes of finding cures for patients just like Garcia.

In May, the lieutenant started to receive treatments at City of Hope, and that led to him being chosen as the Veteran of the Game for the first night of ThinkCure! Weekend. He watched intently as 25 physicians and researchers from the two partner hospitals walked in from center field to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. He saw a familiar face in the lineup of people engaged in the fight against cancer.

"My doctor, Dr. Leslie Popplewell, was out there throwing out the first pitch," said Garcia. "It was great seeing them out there being honored. It's a thankless job. They do so much. They're underappreciated by those who don’t know what they do, until it hits close to home and you really value what they do."

Garcia was one of many people who shared their tales of fighting cancer during ThinkCure! Weekend, on June 24-26. Current and former Dodger players took part in the telethon on FoxSportsWest PRIMETICKET, in features on KCAL9/KCBS2, on the team’s radio broadcast partner, KABC, and in more radio features on KLOS and KTNQ. Many supporters made donations or bid on silent auction items at thinkcure.org. Some fans even texted in donations. Many people shared their tales of losing loved ones to cancer.

Some told the joyous stories of being able to fight back cancer and come out healthy. It's these stories that City of Hope's Dr. Stephen Forman and Children's Hospital, Los Angeles' Dr. Stuart Siegel would like to see told many more times over in the future. Dr. Forman and Dr. Siegel oversee the innovative cancer research being conducted at their respective hospitals with funds coming directly from ThinkCure!. To date, over 1 million dollars has been donated to fund different types of cancer research. This past ThinkCure! Weekend raised nearly $350,000.

"I'm very emotionally attached to this, first because I’m a Dodger fan," said Dr. Forman. "This natural partnership between the Dodgers and our hospitals has been so perfect for us. We take care of people who go to Dodger games. Having started from nothing and having it grow into these weekends that raise money to support our investigators who develop therapies that turn into hopefully treatments and cures for patients is what this is all about."

Throughout the weekend children and adults were honored before the games. One of the highlights was watching children who had been patients at the two partner hospitals running onto the field with the Dodgers at the start of the game.

"It's really emotional to see those kids out there on the field," said Dr. Siegel. "It really tells the whole story of what cancer research is all about. It's about research scientists and the technicians and the nurses and the patients and the doctors. That's the team that really makes this research possible. It also allows us to take this research and go and show that it can benefit and extend lives, and even cure patients. The patients have contributed to our ability to try new research and ideas to see if they work. And if they work they will then be able to benefit literally tens of thousands of people across the world who are facing these cancers. It's really exciting to see that all come together in one place.

"One of those patients is Garcia. As of ThinkCure! Weekend, he'd received three of his prescribed eight treatments for his condition. Everything is going according to plan, and he remained hopeful about recovering fully so he can return to his battalion. On the night that he would utter "It's time for Dodger Baseball" before the game, he pondered how the fight against cancer was being played out on a baseball field.

"A lot of organizations have charities, but this is one that affects almost every family in the country," said Garcia. "The statistics are amazing how many people have cancer. It's great to know that an organization that I really love and I'm a huge Dodger fan to know that they're helping find a cure is great."