In It for The Long Game!
Annual Golf Classic Raises over $170,000
For Preventative Brain Aneurysm Research
Thanks to our generous sponsors, attendees, and supporters, the golf balls weren’t the only things soaring when The Bee Foundation hosted their 2023 annual Golf Classic. Over $170,000 was raised for brain aneurysm research when one hundred and twenty guests and 92 golfers joined us at the Union League’s Liberty Hill course on June 6 in Lafayette, PA.
The golfers warmed up at the putting contest at the start of the event – with 5 golfers qualifying for the $30,000 prize – and then teed off under sunny skies and perfect temperatures after enjoying lunch on the club’s expansive terrace. With numerous competitions throughout the day, golfers had plenty of chances to show off their prowess!
Foursome winners included:
1 st Place: Jeff Giasone, Billy Howard, Matt Ryba, Mike Whitcraft
2 nd place: Dan Curran, Ryan Geib, Kevin Loden, Marc Salotti
3 rd place: Frank Doherty, Drew Evelyn, Bob Hartnett, Mark Skinner
Closest to the Pin was won by Mark Pianelli. Mark Pianelli and Joy Kelly also won the Longest Drive, qualifying for the 165/150 yard approach shot to the 18th green for $1 million.
The evening culminated with cocktails and dinner under the stars. Guests were inspired by our speakers, former New Hampshire Senator Bob Giuda and survivor Zac Yezzi, who shared their own inspirational stories of struggle with the after effects of brain aneurysms – Senator Giuda’s stemming from his wife’s ruptured aneurysm, which has left her in a permanent vegetative state, and Zac’s from his continuing recovery from a near-death experience and subsequent surgery for a ruptured aneurysm and AVM.
The beneficiary of the TBF Fall Classic is the 2024 TBF Preventative Research Grant Program. Funds raised will help TBF not only continue to fund pilot preventative research but enable researchers to gain the necessary data to apply for NIH funding – a key milestone for our almost-a-decade-old organization! Funds raised at events like this have made possible biomarker studies, aneurysm gene expression analysis, and aneurysm wall imaging – all with the same goal of preventing brain aneurysms before rupture.
We still don’t fully understand how to prevent brain aneurysms, but we are getting closer. The Bee Foundation thanks each one of you for believing in us our long-term goal of living in a world where brain aneurysm ruptures are preventable and lives are saved.
