Alexandria Man to Stand Up for 24 Hours Straight in Cancer Fundraising Act
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Ask most business and civic leaders in Alexandria, Virginia who Pat Malone is and there are universal responses, like, “Pat is a great guy.” “Pat Malone? Who doesn’t know Pat Malone?” “Pat is an unsung hero – he helps everybody.”
The man with the open heart and time for hundreds of community causes can now use a boost to help him with his passion for cancer research. He needs pledges. Starting at 4:26 p.m. on Monday, February 10, Malone will “Stand Up to Cancer” for 24-hours straight at Fire Works American Pizzeria and Bar in Arlington.
Swinging for the Fences
The man who helped bring baseball back to Alexandria through the city’s minor league team called the Aces, says about his fundraising goal, “I am trying, as much of a long-shot that I admit that it might be, to raise one million dollars in 2020 to fight cancer with Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C).”
Malone admits he could have pledged to raise a much lower amount, but as he says, “I thought that it would be best to swing for the fences to raise much-needed funds which will go directly to cancer researchers who are at the epicenter of creating medical breakthroughs which can help to save lives.”
“I think this may be my last year that I can do the marathon,” the 62-year old Malone told the Zebra. You see, this is the sixth year in a row Malone has tackled the mission. It’s not an easy task. Especially for a guy with a hitch in his step who has been through the medical ringer.
‘Paying it Forward’
You see, Patrick Malone is a cancer survivor.
But he never complains. Many people who see him regularly might not even know he has had any challenges, but he has.
The second-generation Washingtonian born in Georgetown University Hospital is a retired Air Force veteran who says, “I am someone who was thankfully saved by highly-skilled expert surgeons, physicians, and medical technicians at the Murtha Cancer Center located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.”
On February 11, 2014, Malone underwent a seven-hour surgery to remove an extremely rare cancer from his upper right chest called ‘MPNST’, a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor.
“[Then] I had 29 treatments of radiation at the Radiation Oncology Clinic at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital (FBCH), in Fort Belvoir, Virginia,” says Malone.
Since then Malone has been under the watchful care of Army Lieutenant Colonel Brett Theeler, M.D., and Ellen Levy, a physical therapist who is one of the country’s leading lymphedema specialists, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
How does he feel about doing it all again? “Like the late James Brown used to sing, I feel good.”
“It is quite exhausting, though, to stand for 24 hours,” Malone says, “But I stand for people who are fighting cancer who can’t stand or walk. I work to raise money for Stand Up To Cancer because 100 percent of all donations go directly to cancer research.”
“The fight against cancer is a battle that we all need to win.”
Stop in and say hello to Pat during his one-man marathon at Fire Works Pizza, 2350 Clarendon Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201, and give him a direct donation there, or go to his GoFundMe page to make a pledge.
Stand Up To Cancer works relentlessly to offer the newest, most effective, and most promising cancer treatments to patients quickly by bringing together the best minds to collaborate, innovate, and share cancer research.
