Stand Up to Cancer hosts third fundraising telecast

Mark you calendars for Sept. 7. You're going to want to tune in for the third Stand Up to Cancer broadcast. The one-hour fundraising show will feature celebrity actors, musicians and athletes to raise money for cancer research. The event will be broadcast commercial-free on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and cable stations at 7 p.m. Central.This will be the first SU2C event since the death of co-founder and executive producer Laura Ziskin from breast cancer last year - "Laura Ziskin's legacy of Stand Up to Cancer lives on." The first two telecasts, which aired in 2008 and 2010, have raised more than $180 million for SU2C's cancer research grants that have funded seven "Dream Teams." These researchers are collaborating on innovative ideas that will spur cancer advancements. (Wondering where all that research money goes? Wonder why we haven't seen a cure? Read Stand Up to Cancer: Will you be watching?)I was fortunate to meet one patient who has already benefited from this research back in April at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting. (AACR is the scientific partner to SU2C.) Jeannette Daniel had been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer patient and had enrolled in one of the PI3K pathway-focused clinical trials funded by SU2C. She spoke at the AACR-SU2C press briefing and recounted how hopeless and angry she had been when was told to prepare for the worst. She has since been declared cancer-free. While not typical, her story is incredibly inspirational and shows the power of how clinical studies of innovative ideas can progress research. Score one for SU2C.For more detailed information on the telecast, the scientific Dream Teams, individual research grants and other SU2C activities, go to standup2cancer.org.