Cancer

The news came quickly, as bad news often does, in an e-mail. The message: "We lost our beloved rabbi emerita, Carole Meyers today." There is a branch of theology that addresses these kinds of losses. Theodicy is the study of why bad things happen to good people. Good people like Rabbi Carole Meyers, an inspirational woman who led Temple Sinai of Glendale for 15 years. She resigned in 2001 to devote herself to her husband and two young children. There are few females in the rabbinate and Rabbi Meyers was the first woman to lead a congregation in Los Angeles.

Gretchen Hoffman Patricia Henley hasn't seen a dime of the millions in damages she won from Philip Morris four years ago, but it's not about money for the Glendale resident -- it's about children. Henley, 55, was the first sick smoker to get a case against the tobacco magnate to trial, and a jury awarded her more than $50 million -- far beyond what she'd asked for. A trial judge reduced the punitive damages by half, and an appeal is pending. Instead, she plans to use it to get the newly formed Patricia Henley Foundation off the ground.

Jackson Bell The American Cancer Society Discovery Shop's California headquarters, previously located in Glendale, has moved to a larger site in Burbank and opened a new shop. Store manager Garrett Hooper said the relocation from 315 Arden Ave. was due to the availability of a large site with convenient freeway access. A landlord, Marc Kaye of Kaye Investment & Management, agreeing to provide such lease incentives as reduced rent for the first few months and a new shop entrance didn't hurt either.

Buck Wargo GLENDALE -- Monday is the deadline to sign up for the first Desi Geestman Foundation Golf Tournament & Luau at Brookside Country Club in Pasadena. Geestman died of cancer in January 1999 at 12. She received her medical care at the City of Hope, and Geestman's family has been raising money to help children suffering from cancer and their families. The tournament is Aug. 4 with a four-man scramble format. Besides golf, there will be a luau and silent auction.

Tim Willert GLENDALE -- The following is a selection of upcoming programming of local interest: This week's episode of the "Larry Zarian Forum" will feature Burbank City Councilman David Laurell. Zarian and Laurell will discuss airport safety and how to resolve Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority issues. The call-in show is from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday on Charter Communications Channel 26. To ask a question during the show, call 547-3668.

Gary Moskowitz SOUTHWEST GLENDALE -- Since exchanging vows with his wife Cynthia on Valentine's Day, Jerry Mietus has undergone chemotherapy treatments every other day in his battle with liver cancer. Mietus, 46, has been scheduled for a move to medical facilities at UCLA in a week or two for a bone marrow transplant. His brother Tom will be the donor. "I want to know more about what I'm getting myself into," said Mietus, who has been in contact with support groups and cancer survivors since coming back to the hospital after his wedding.

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan From day one, the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital has taken "extraordinary steps" to care for children with crippling conditions. Taking those steps has meant providing comprehensive medical care and treatment for children with benign and malignant bone tumors, devoting time and money to build sophisticated centers and holding fundraisers to raise funds to treat people with cancer. The hospital held its 15th annual Paul Runyan Memorial Golf Classic on Monday at the Oakmont Country Club, raising approximately $100,000 for its Pediatric Musculoskeletal Tumor Program, which assists children who suffer from osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, among other conditions.

More than 300 guests from the Crescenta Valley and La Cañada Flintridge came together for a tropical evening of raising money for children with cancer. The Desi Gestman Foundation held its first combined aloha and casino event last Saturday evening at the La Cañada Flintridge estate of Tom and Eva Jeffers. The two fund-raising events were held separately in the past. La Crescenta resident Ileana Geestman founded the Desi Geestman Foundation in the spring of 1999, a few months after her daughter, Desiree Cristine, lost a two-year battle with cancer.

Hundreds gathered to remember La Crescenta girl who had battled cancer for six years On Monday, Nov. 8, close to midnight, Paige Peterson, 11, lost her six-year battle with cancer. Paige had been diagnosed at age 5 with neuroblastoma, a form of childhood cancer in which a solid tumor forms in the stomach or chest. It can affect the legs because of the pressure on the spinal cord. In the six years she lived with the disease, the Monte Vista Elementary student had gone through surgery and endless treatments, including a bone marrow transplant.

Mother?s Day. It?s a tough time for me. But I am surrounded by love. I like the presents. This year, Rachel gave me a lavender plant, in a beautiful pot. When I look at it, I think of her. And in my purse, I still have the pen, the one that Andrew gave me for Mother?s Day, the year before he died. On Mother?s Day I think about both my children. This year, there are other concerns. The economy. Our quest to fix things. To repair the world, one disease at a time. ?