South Florida businessman Steve Dwoskin has channeled his tragedies into a crusade against childhood cancer. Dwoskin, who's been hit hard by cancer in his own family, has made a multimillion-dollar donation to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
This isn't the first time Dwoskin has opened his wallet in a fight against cancer. In a statement obtained by CBS Miami, he admitted to being a "control freak" and finding it frustrating that he was unable to help his father and brother, who both succumbed to cancer. The latest $3.75 million donation, however, establishes the Dwoskin Children’s Cancer Research Fund, directly benefiting research on glioblastoma and other aggressive childhood brain cancers.
Dr. Antonio Lavarone and his partner, both in research and life, Dr. Anna Lasorella, who recently joined the center, are now armed with the funds necessary to pursue a particularly challenging frontier of pediatric oncology. Lavarone laid out quite clearly that brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer death in children, a sobering reality that Dwoskin's generosity is poised to challenge. “We are concentrating on these tumors because they are the most significant unmet challenge in pediatric oncology. There are no other tumors that are more aggressive than this,” Dr. Iavarone told University of Miami News.
"My brother and my father died of cancer, and that was devastating. But when a 7- or 8-year-old child has cancer and dies, I just cannot handle that," Dwoskin explained, according to an interview with University of Miami News.
