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ZIPPERED HOODIE!

$65.

Brand NEW design!

100% soft cotton, two-pocket Zippered DRUMSTRONG Hoodie with unique logo on front and DS logo on back.

These beauties run at least a full size big (i.e. order a Medium if you typically wear a Large…)

 

Please add $8.50 for shipping + $7.00 per each additional hoodie. 

HOODIE

$50.

Soft 100% cotton one-pocket Hoodie with the design detail on sleeve and the DRUMSTRONG logo on the back.

Please add $8.50 for shipping + $7.00 per each additional shirt.

V-Neck Tee

$20.

Soft 100% cotton V-Neck with the design detail on sleeve, and the DRUMSTRONG logo on the back.

 

Please add $7.00 for shipping + $5.00 per each additional shirt.

 

TankTop

$15.

 

Soft 100% cotton with the unique 10th Anniversary heart beam on front, design detail on sleeve, and the 10 DRUMSTRONG logo on the back.

 

Please add $7.00 for shipping + $5.00 per each additional shirt.

10th Anniversary HeartTee

$20.

10th Anniversary HeartTee (middle shirt)

Soft 100% cotton with the unique 10th Anniversary heart beam on front, design detail on sleeve, and the 10 DRUMSTRONG logo on the back.

 

Please add $7.00 for shipping + $5.00 per each additional shirt.

TEDxCharlotte 10-15-2011

DRUMSTRONG was honored to share our passion with the wide-open and embracing TEDx audience of 700+ at Queens University’s Dana Auditorium, Charlotte, NC.

We had the unique opportunity to speak (uninterrupted) about our history, sources, resources, mission, impact and vision.

mastob

The support of family and DRUMSTRONG participants lent strength and purpose. Mason, Toby and Carola came on stage along with other DRUMSTRONG drummers to create an impactful pulse that everybody there took home. People truly ‘got it’!

The talk concluded encouraging folks to listen to their Heart Beat, drum with it, and embrace/appreciate/support their neighbor’s and community’s pulse.

Master Facilitator Dave Holland took the Body Percussion from there to other-worldly levels, we distributed 700 Boomwhackers, fortified the rhythm with the 12 drummers from stage, and at the finale, invited people to make a ‘wish’/’prayer’ and LAUNCH them via their Boomwhackers.

What a wonderful feeling and WHAT a sight!

BoomLaunch

photo by Deborah Triplett

TED Video 

Carolinas Kids Cancer Research Coalition

Subject:  Carolinas Kids Research Coalition Provides $5.7 Million in Funding

Date: February 23, 2010

Charlotte NC — Eight philanthropic organizations and families in the Charlotte region have joined forces to create the “Carolinas Kids Cancer Research Coalition,” which is providing funding for the introduction of Phase I and Phase II clinical trials by the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Center at Levine Children’s Hospital.

The coalition support includes a signature commitment of $1 million from the Alex Hemby Foundation and the Hemby family, resulting in the naming of the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Center in honor of Torrence E. Hemby, Jr. and the creation of an endowed fund in his honor. Consistent with other commitments from Coalition members, the Hemby gift is being matched by The Leon Levine Foundation, for total Coalition funding in the amount of $5.7 million.

“The development of pediatric cancer research with Phase I and Phase II clinical trials places Levine Children’s Hospital among the nation’s elite healthcare providers in the battle against childhood cancer,” said Michael Tarwater, CEO of Carolinas HealthCare System. “By expanding our clinical research capabilities, we are assuring families throughout this region that they can receive the latest treatments close to home.”

The Carolinas Kids Cancer Research Coalition includes some of the region’s premier nonprofit groups dedicated to fund raising, education and awareness related to pediatric cancer. Founding members of the Coalition are The Leon Levine Foundation, The Alex Hemby Foundation, The Adam Faulk Tanksley Foundation, The Baby J Ladley Fund, Quail Hollow Championship, DRUMSTRONG™, 24 Hours of Booty, and Brett’s Ride for Rhabdo.

“Formation of the Cancer Research Coalition opens the door for increased collaboration among organizations wanting to support pediatric cancer research and services for children in our region,” said Bevie Hemby, speaking on behalf of The Alex Hemby Foundation and the Hemby family. “The needs of our children and families today truly transcend the resources of any single organization; it has been gratifying to see how these founding members have rallied around a common goal.

“We are excited to help make it possible to keep children and families together in Charlotte as they benefit from access to the most current research and clinical therapies.” The $5.7 million in funding will be used to expand staff, diagnostic and treatment equipment, and support services for Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, which are conducted to test the safety, effectiveness and best approaches for the use of new drugs and other inventions. Phase I clinical trials are the first step in testing new treatment approaches in people, enrolling a small number of patients. Phase II trials enroll a larger group of patients and focus on the effectiveness of specific agents or interventions.

“The success of Levine Children’s Hospital has been the result of broad-based support from throughout our community by those dedicated to the health and wellbeing of our children,” said Michael Rose, President of the Carolinas HealthCare Foundation. “The generous support from the Coalition clearly demonstrates that this commitment to excellence in pediatric healthcare remains strong in our community.” As one of the fastest growing programs at Levine Children’s Hospital, the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Center treats patients with leukemia, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, brain tumors, kidney cancer, and bone and soft tissue tumors. In addition, the Center offers neuro-oncology services and blood and marrow transplantation. With the continuing expansion of its medical staff, the Hematology and Oncology Center now includes eight board-certified physicians with in-depth knowledge of the full range of childhood cancers, offering extensive surgical, chemotherapy and radiologic procedures. The Center’s pediatric patients also have access to a broad range of clinical research studies, including National Cancer Institute protocols for therapies under development.  The Center has participated in more than 60 clinical trials through the internationally recognized Children’s Oncology Group, a collaborative initiative including patients, researchers and hospitals throughout the world.

More recently, the Center has joined two widely recognized consortia dedicated to fighting childhood cancer. These include Therapeutic Advances in Childhood Leukemia and Lymphoma (TACL), and the Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma Translational Research Consortium (NMTRC). Affiliation with these organizations will give children in the Carolinas access to novel drugs which were previously not available in the Carolinas. Phase I and Phase II clinical trials planned by the Center will focus on leukemia, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, brain tumors, kidney cancer, and other bone and soft tissue tumors.

“Clinical research is an essential element of our mission at Levine Children’s Hospital,” said Dr. Leonard Feld, Sara H. Bissell & Howard C. Bissell Endowed Chair in Pediatrics and Chief Medical Officer of Levine Children’s Hospital. “The expansion of Phase I and Phase II studies will lead to increasing our overall knowledge and enhancing the capability of our physicians and staff to provide new treatment options for our region’s children with cancer.”

About Levine Children’s Hospital

Levine Children’s Hospital (www.levinechildrenshospital.org) is a 234-bed hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, located on the main campus of Carolinas Medical Center. It is the most comprehensive facility of its type between Atlanta, Georgia and Washington D.C. Levine Children’s Hospital is also home to the Ricky Hendrick Centers for Intensive Care, which support pediatric intensive and cardiovascular surgery patients. Just two years after opening, the hospital has grown to include more than 30 pediatric specialties and has received national recognition from U.S. News & World Report as one of “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals” for treatment of kidney disorders.

Levine Children’s Hospital is one of 32 hospitals affiliated with Carolinas HealthCare System (www.carolinashealthcare.org), one of the leading healthcare systems in the Southeast. Carolinas HealthCare System employs some 1,400 physicians and serves patients at more than 500 care locations including physician practices, nursing homes, surgical and rehabilitation centers, home health agencies and other facilities. These operations comprise more than 6,300 licensed beds and employ some 44,000 people.

DRUMSTRONG Inspire to Inspire by Jema

The rhythm was deep, energized by passion, and strong like a healthy heartbeat.  When you entered the tent, a circle of connected souls sat in black chairs facing the center of the circle where the energized leader would direct the drums in synchronized rhythms.  The electronic clock, keeping accurate time for the Guinness Book of World Records, counted down the seconds from thirty hours in bright red letters, rolling off the clock like the hands rolled on the leather drums.  DrumSTRONG had begun.

The participants were gathered remembering those they had lost to cancer as symbolized by the chair with angel wings and cloth flags tied to the cords streaming alongside the logo.  The large drum was a privilege for me to beat with loud mallets, and its deep voice carried by the two individuals who offered to take their turn.  This drum continued to beat for thirty straight hours, it sang of the truth “Drumming to BEAT cancer”.

Drummers interwove into the tent, all hours of the day and night,  connected by their purpose, their inner beat.  The live stream went out to the world, the event now occurring in places such as Dublin, Tokyo and the Ukraine.  Belly dancers performed, live music was held on the stages, vendors sold food and drums, artisan wares.

Upon entering the tent around 2am, a dancer invited me into the middle circle to dance.  My first instinct was to pass on the experience.  Then, a little voice inside me asked, “When will you ever have such an experience again? Probably never, now get yourself out there and try it.”  So, I accepted and twirled around in my skirt, dancing with my African gourd shaker with shells in the middle of a drum circle.  The beat absorbed into my body as the drums encircled me from all directions.  I was free, I danced and smiled as I saw warm eyes beating their passions into their drums.  It filled me deeply and humbly.

I drummed and danced for my mom who survived her breast cancer and the poisonous treatments, and our good friend Joel, who looks cancer in the eye daily.  I was there relatives and friends, and those in the tent who were still fighting, still living, still beating.  And so, together we shall continue.