More 1,000 breast cancer survivors and supporters gathered at Long Island’s Carlyle on the Green in Bethpage State Park Monday April 7th to mix and mingle with New York Mets Legends Darryl Strawberry, Dwight “Doc” Gooden and a host of other celebrities for a very pink cause.
Organizers of the second annual Pinktie.org Real Estate Professionals Networking for a Cure fundraiser raised more than $250,000, which was donated to the Find A Cure Today or F.A.C.T. Breast Cancer Foundation.
Also in attendance were NBA Hall of Famer, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Giants Super Bowl XXV MVP Ottis “OJ” Anderson, NY Jets greats Joe Klecko and Greg Buttle, former NY Yankee Jim Leyritz, Rappers Doug E. Fresh and Chubb Rock, Actor/Comedian Steve Guttenberg, Former Heavyweight Boxer Renaldo Snipes, and R&B singer Lisa Lisa. The Knicks City Dancers and famed former NYPD Detective and actor Bo Dietl were also on hand.PinkTie.org Real Estate Professionals Networking for a Cure was founded by Mike Cave, CEO of 1st Equity Title & Closing Services, because of his concern for the high rates of breast cancer cases on Long Island and his desire to involve the community in helping to eradicate the disease.
“I'm really proud of the real estate community and how we all pull together for this great cause," Cave said in a press release. “We chose F.A.C.T because it’s a 100% volunteer organization where not one penny of the proceeds gets eaten up in overhead expenses. All funds raised stay in New York and Long Island to help the local community.”
Sabrina Hannam, Pinktie.org board member and founder of the Hannam Law group said the event's hosts were also overwhelmed by the support they received from the professional sports community.
"When I was approached to help Mike Cave and Linda Ferrante (F.A.C.T Foundation) to host the Pink Tie event, I was honored to be a part of an effort to eradicate a disease that impacts so many women, particularly women in the Long Island area," Hannam said. "But I couldn't have done it alone. Without the help of members of the New York Knicks Franchise and the Brooklyn Nets Franchise including Christophe Charlier, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Nets, this philanthropic effort wouldn't have been half of the success as it was."
The event included live music and casino tables, a silent auction, exclusive raffles, a NCAA Men's Basketball championship game, an exotic car show, and more.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, not counting some types of skin cancer, Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, regardless of race or ethnicity. Breast cancer rates on Long Island are among the highest in New York State. Long Island is considered to be a cancer cluster, which the CDC defines as an area where a greater than expected number of cancer cases occur
within a group of people over a period of time.
The Susan G. Komen organization notes that Long Island is one of the best-studied breast cancer clusters.
Findings from the studies showed the excess breast cancer cases were due to known risk factors.
In other words, living on Long Island didn’t appear to increase the risk of breast cancer but rather women who lived in these areas and developed breast cancer were more likely to have known risk factors compared to other women.
Such known risk factors included being older, Caucasian, having Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, a family history of breast cancer, having a first child at an older age, never having given birth, drinking alcohol, using postmenopausal hormones and having a higher socioeconomic status. Findings from one of the Long Island studies indicated exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which is a chemical found in cigarette smoke and grilled foods, slightly increased the risk of breast cancer.
