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Winter 2017 : iPromise: Jeff Lindley

iPromise: Jeff Lindley

Jeff and Marty Lindley met in 1968 at the University of Arizona. They married in 1970 and had a daughter, Jessica. They later moved to New Braunfels, Texas, and were active in the community. As a surprise, Jeff created the Marty Lindley Foundation by hosting an event at the Brauntex Theatre, inviting guests to wear purple in awareness of leiomyosarcoma, a soft tissue sarcoma. More than 500 people attended, including college friends, and raised $62,000 in Marty's honor.

BY Jeff Lindley

Marty and Jeff Lindley. Photo courtesy of the Lindley family.

I watched over and cared for my wife, Marty, as she traveled in her cancer journey for almost 12 years. Being proactive in her care and treatment, we knew MD Anderson was the best destination to treat leiomyosarcoma. Marty surpassed her doctors' prognoses, but died in February of last year.

In 2013, we launched the Marty Lindley Foundation to generate donations to three agencies, including the Adult Sarcoma Research Clinic at MD Anderson. Two special events, which included singers Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith, as well as direct donations to her foundation, have made a lasting impact on those beneficiaries.

We've given MD Anderson $90,000 to find a cure for this rare disease. On one occasion, Marty and I, along with board members, visited the research clinic to present a check. The staff gave a tutorial, tempered with tears of appreciation because Marty was there. They promised not to give up, as we will not give up in our commitment to support them.

Do you Promise? Tell us why you're committed to Making Cancer History® by sending an email to promise@mdanderson.org.

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