ROCK FOR TEENS – A PRIVATE EVENING DEDICATED TO TEENS AND CHILDREN
On the 5th November we attended a star studded fund raising event in Los Angeles at which a week’s stay at Drenagh was auctioned by Howie Mandel, celebrity presenter of America’s Deal or No Deal. The winning bid was made by Ricky Schroder as a birthday present for his wife, Andrea. Ricky starred opposite John Voight and Faye Dunnaway in the Champ, for which he won a golden globe award. He has gone on to be a well recognised star of both TV and film, appearing in many shows including Lonesome Dove, NYPD Blue and 24. We are looking forward to welcoming Ricky, Andrea, their family and friends to Drenagh and to Northern Ireland in the spring of 2012.
The event itself was a massive success raising over $2 million for the UCLA Teen Cancer Program. Teenagers fall between two stools when it comes to treatment for cancer, they could find themselves in an adult ward with people many times their age or conversely in a ward full of babies and children. It is so important, when going through traumatic treatment, as cancer treatment is, that these young people have others they can both relate to and have more in common with than a 6 year old or a 60 year old. The Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles has built the first dedicated teen ward in the world and this money will go towards helping establish a more coherent approach to teen cancer treatment worldwide.
On the night we were entertained by Roger Daltrey of The Who, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. Here in the UK Roger is the figurehead of the Teenage Cancer Trust and has raised many millions in aid of this worthy charity.
As you can imagine, it rocked….
