Last Thursday evening at the Park Avenue Armory, after the consumption of an elegant dinner and the auctioning of many fine items including the most adorable black and white spaniel, Sheryl Crow rocked the cavernous house. In sequins over jeans, she sang her signature songs: “If it Makes You Happy” and “Soak Up the Sun.” More important, she, a cancer survivor, sang the praises of Dr. Samuel Waxman. This was the 13th annual Collaborating for the Cure Benefit for the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation and from the looks of this crowd, young and enterprising, money appeared to have no limit. The live auction alone garnered nearly $1 million. 

According to a press release, the foundation has awarded $75 million to researchers worldwide since its inception in 1976. When I first attended such a benefit, in 2009, I was pondering an irony: my mother, the late Pola Weinreich died in the care of this world-renowned oncologist at Mount Sinai in 1996. When I spoke to him, reminding him of an event commonplace to him and devastating to me, he spoke to me for several minutes while others tried to get his attention. Did I give her the best care I could? he sincerely wanted to know. A sign of a good doctor, he very much wanted to talk about her demise and the deadly disease that he was hoping to cure in his lifetime with the foundation he created 34 years ago.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura