Local Dragon Boat Team Racing to Cure Pancreatic Cancer

Local residents are fielding a dragon boat team to compete this weekend in the hopes of raising awareness about pancreatic cancer.  

The team, "A Love For Life," will compete in the 11th annual Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival, which takes place this Saturday on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park.  

A Love For Life is racing in celebration of Kevin Edmonds, who passed away earlier this year from pancreatic cancer. He was 51. 

The money raised will go to Fund A Cure for Pancreatic Cancer. So far, more than $7,000 has been raised for the cause.

A Love For Life captain Christina Nelson said the team is made up of a group of friends between the ages of 30 to 60 years old.  "Our team wants to go out there and really show what our Love For Life is all about and we will do it in celebration of our friends and family members who are no longer with us due to pancreatic cancer."

Sponsors of the team include:  The Gap, Herspiegel Consulting LLC, McCaffrey's Supermarket, Orphanides and Associates LLC, Waitkus Design, Lily Street Capital, Yogasphere, Clark's Flower Shop, Jefferson Hospital and Christine Edmonds in Memory of Kevin Edmonds.

"We are very grateful for all of the time, dedication, generosity and thoughtfulness of those rowing in Kevin's honor and of the Edmonds family," said Robert Ciervo, Chairman of Fund A Cure for Pancreatic Cancer. He added the team's efforts will enable the organization to make "an even larger donation to the pancreatic cancer research team at Thomas Jefferson University this November in honor of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month."

This year, pancreatic cancer is expected to surpass breast cancer in annual deaths by cancer in the United States. More than 43,000 will likely die from the disease in 2012.  

Those wishing to donate towards the Dragon Boat team effort can do so online at https://www.active.com/donate/runovercancer2012/Dragonboat or by sending a tax deductible donation to Fund A Cure for Pancreatic Cancer, 12 Kuhars Way, Newtown, PA 18940.