Dear Friends, 

Thank you for your continued interest in the Garrett B. Smith foundation, now in its 15^th year.  Despite the difficult economy, the foundation has been able to maintain both its fund-raising and spending levels.  Our annual golf outing, held on May 7^th at the Stanwich Club here in Greenwich, boasted 20 teams and netted over $125,000, down somewhat from our peak but still quite respectable in these times. Heidi and I are greatly appreciative of all our friends who have kept the Garrett among their top philanthropic priorities. This year’s golf outing enabled the foundation to pass the $3 million mark in cumulative fund-raising.  The Garrett foundation prides itself on spending money, not just raising it.  By the end of 2009, the foundation will have spent $1.7 million on original programs that we have created to help seriously ill children.

The foundation supports research fellowships at leading hospitals around the country as well as the child life department at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital where Garrett was treated.  All told, we have funded 10 fellowships at 5 different hospitals.  The fellowships cover the cost of a young scientist working in an established cancer research setting for 2 years.  By renewing our fellowships at these institutions over the years, we hope that each Garrett fellow can leverage the work of their predecessors.  Our long-term goal is to cultivate a network of top physicians that will remain committed to fighting cancer for their entire careers.

We currently have 3 Garrett research fellows: Dr. Sandra Ryeom from Children’s Hospital in Boston, Dr. Charles Roberts from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, also in Boston, and Dr. Marianna Papaspyridonos from the Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York.  Dr. Ryeom is continuing her research into the genetics of adults with Down’s Syndrome because they appear to have an immunity to almost all cancers.  Her team published its results in one of the most prestigious scientific journals, Nature, this past spring, acknowledging the role of Garrett foundation funding.  Dr. Ryeom had worked at Children’s under the direction of the renowned Dr. Judah Folkman, who passed away in 2008, but will be opening her own laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania at the end of this month.  The foundation is considering the continuation of her fellowship there.  Dr. Roberts’ understanding of the genetics of children with malignant rhabdoid tumor has led him to explore new approaches to lymphoma and other adult cancers. His recent findings, related to DNA packaging, have revealed a molecular mechanism that may be amenable to drug targeting.  Dr. Papaspyridonos is an expert in immunology.  She began her Garrett fellowship in the lab of Dr. David Lyden in January 2008 studying dendritic cells, which are the “generals” of our immune system, marshalling its resources to fight disease.  Her experiments have revealed that cancer patients have fewer dendritic cells than healthy people and have identified a gene that may be responsible.

Finally, we want to highlight the work of Dr. Steven Abella, a Garrett fellow from 1999-2001 at the Karmanos Cancer Institute, affiliated with Detroit Children’s Hospital.  Last year, Dr. Abella and his team published results of their long-term study of children with recurrent brain tumors.  By combining traditional chemotherapy with new stem cell transplant techniques, they have demonstrated improved response and prolonged survival.  The utilization of this pioneering approach may now spread to other pediatric cancer treatment centers. 

Continuing to “clown around”, Dr. Sneakers (Elizabeth Bilock) and Dr. Chester Drawers (Leo Desilets) have led the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit at Yale-New Haven since its inception 12 years ago.  They have become an integral component of life at the hospital.  The Garrett foundation attracted the Big Apple Circus to Yale and provides the complete funding for it.  While 16 other prominent children’s hospitals nationwide also have the clowns, the Yale unit is the only one that is completely funded by a single private organization.  It remains our foundation’s single largest annual financial commitment.  

Heidi and I are extremely proud of the work of the Garrett B. Smith Foundation.  This year, we expect to spend more on our programs than we have generated from our golf outing, but feel that the young patients need our help, regardless of the state of the economy.   Fortunately, the foundation has the financial cushion to weather this storm.   Heidi and I continue to give our firm commitment to oversee projects personally and to pay all foundation overhead ourselves.  Our work here is a labor of love for our son and his memory.  We thank you again.

As Garrett would say virtually every morning: “Sun’s up – time to play!”

Scott and Heidi