The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation » Just Dance Ballroom Fundraiser

Just Dance Ballroom Fundraiser

A Miracle Dancing

Think fundraiser and you think black tie or golf outing. But on March 30th, the stage for a grassroots community-driven gala to raise funds for our foundation – The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation - was the Just Dance Ballroom in Oakland, CA.

The room rocked almost as soon as the doors opened, as dozens of couples took to the dance floor just after 6 p.m. More than 200 people –friends and relatives of the Le family–danced the night away, raising over $10,000 for lung cancer research and the foundation.

The inspiration for the evening was Tat Le – patriarch of the family, and a lung cancer survivor. His grown children, Tiffany and Richard Le hosted the event to say thank you to the medical team -Dr. Thierry Jahan and his staff at UCSF, that supported them throughout their father’s illness and to help funnel monies into the work of the Foundation to eradicate lung cancer. More than 20 local businesses also supported the evening, donating the food and entertainment. In addition to general ballroom dancing, was the world-class professional ballroom show of Tomas Atkocevicius and Aira Bubnelyte.

“Thank you to Tiffany Le, Richard, Brian Wong, Audrey Yuen, and most importantly Mr. Tat Lee, Bonnie Addario told the crowd. “My thank yous also extend to everyone at Just Dance Ballroom, their sponsors and all of our guests here tonight.
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I am honored to be here. When I started this foundation a little over one year ago on March 6, 2006 it was a sad but auspicious day. I woke up early in the morning to an announcement on CNN that Dana Reeve had lost her life to lung cancer.”

“I sat up in bed and knew so clearly that it was time to make lung cancer matter. I questioned why most all of the other cancers had screening and early detection programs,” added Bonnie.

In the first year, the foundation has raised almost $1 million and given it away for lung cancer research in seven months to the University of California San Francisco for their BioMarker-gene program, which is designed to eliminate the guesswork on the best treatment for lung cancer patients. In addition, monies were donated to Dr. Claudia Henschke at Cornell in New York City to assist with her research for early detection and putting “screening” into place nationwide for lung cancer. The foundation also is working with local hospitals for early detection program. This coming September, local hospitals will be launching some of these programs.

“Never in a million years could I imagine that Lung Cancer would be something to dance about…that is until we received the call from Tiffany Le who says she wants to do everything she can to help us in the huge and upward battle against lung cancer,” said Bonnie. “Suddenly we are all here tonight to dance, dance for lung cancer, dance for survival, and dance for Mr. Tat Le. I want to dance because I see that I am not alone in this quest to end lung cancer…The only way I can achieve my goal is with the help from people like the Le Family and all of you here tonight.”