On Monday, October 18, Cathy and Jim Datz, along with Mrs. Datz’s three brothers and two sisters and other family members, will host the third annual “Putt for Progress” golf tournament and auction of sports memorabilia to benefit Jefferson’s Scleroderma Center.

The event will begin at noon at the Rock Spring Club in West Orange, NJ.

Proceeds will help Sergio A. Jimenez, MD, The Dorrance H. Hamilton Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Rheumatology, Jefferson Medical College, and his colleagues study scleroderma, a chronic and often fatal disease that has no known cause or cure. The first tournament and auction, held in 1997, raised $40,000 for Jefferson and last year’s event raised $50,000. This year’s goal is to exceed the 1998 total.

Mr. and Mrs. Datz and their family have experienced scleroderma’s devastating impact. Five years ago at the age of 31, Mrs. Datz, a mother of two young sons, received her diagnosis from Dr. Jimenez and was informed that the average life expectancy for patients affected by the disease was approximately 10 years. However, researchers at Jefferson are working hard to change this prognosis.

Mrs. Datz is grateful that, due to the success of her treatment at Jefferson, her condition is in remission. To help advance the research that may help Dr. Jimenez and his colleagues discover a cure that will benefit Mrs. Datz and others, her family, led by her brother John Murray, a broker with Cantor Fitzgerald of New York, initiated “Putt for Progress.”

“By organizing this event each year, Cathy, Jim, John and other members of their family are raising vital funds to support our research,” said Dr. Jimenez. “They are also building public awareness of both scleroderma and the urgent need to discover a cure. My colleagues and I deeply appreciate their efforts and dedication.”

“Getting together with so many good friends for such a great cause gives my family and me great pleasure,” said Michael Murray, another brother of Mrs. Datz who is also a broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. “There are so few times in your life you get a chance to make a difference in people’s lives, and ‘Putt for Progress’ is one of those times.”

For more information on “Putt for Progress,” please call John Murray at 212-732-8175.

Visit The Jefferson 2000 Fund website at http://www.tju.edu/jeffgiving/

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