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- Posted Tuesday April 5, 2011
Mattress Firm selects charitable partner of choice, launches initial fundraising promotion
Bedding retailer puts national spotlight on pancreatic cancer
research
HOUSTON - April 5, 2011 - Mattress Firm, a leading national
bedding retailer, has named the Translational Genomics Research
Institute (TGen) as its "charitable partner of choice."
Specifically, Mattress Firm will support globalCure, a TGen-led
alliance of the world's foremost scientists, physicians and
pancreatic cancer advocates in the fight against pancreatic
cancer.
Steve Stagner, Mattress Firm's President and CEO, believes the
company's support of research at the Phoenix-based TGen will
provide employees the opportunity to change lives and raise
awareness of pancreatic cancer with every customer
interaction.
To launch its national alignment with TGen's globalCure, Mattress
Firm is partnering with Simmons Bedding Co., makers of Beautyrest
mattresses, in a promotion that will donate $50 to globalCure for
every Simmons Beautyrest dual floor sample sold nationwide at
nearly 700 Mattress Firm stores from April 6 through April 17. The
goal is to raise more than $100,000 for globalCure.
"Not only will we participate in local and national events to
raise funds that support the research at TGen, but we will also use
opportunities to educate our customers and communities about
pancreatic cancer and the globalCure effort. Awareness is the key
to progress, and we have the opportunity to make a significant
impact in our lifetime," Stagner said.
GlobalCure national advisory committee member Jai Pausch praised
Stagner and the Houston-based mattress retailer. Pausch became a
national advocate for pancreatic cancer following the death of her
husband, Randy, a Carnegie Mellon professor and author of the
bestselling book, The Last Lecture.
"As an advocate who understands how devastating pancreatic cancer
can be for patients and their families, I applaud Mattress Firm's
commitment to globalCure, and their effort to bring much needed
resources and attention to our fight," Pausch said.
Stagner said he hopes that Mattress Firm's support will multiply
through globalCure and do for pancreatic cancer research and
scientific discovery what the Susan G. Komen foundation has done
for the fight against breast cancer.
"We have the opportunity to educate our customers about our
efforts beyond the sales floor. We have the opportunity to get
involved and engaged with our communities, and impact the lives of
over 43,000 Americans that are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
each year," Stagner said.
Pancreatic cancer is the nation's fourth leading cause of cancer
death, and is the only one of the 10 most deadly cancers with a
survival rate in the single digits. Nearly 75 percent of the
estimated 43,000 Americans diagnosed annually die within the first
year. Only 6 percent survive longer than five years. Less than 2
percent of the National Cancer Institute's federal research funding
is dedicated to pancreatic cancer research.
According to Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff, TGen's Physician-In-Chief and
one of the world's leading authorities on pancreatic cancer, early
detection of pancreatic cancer is non-existent, the survival rate
remains low, and federal funding is a trickle for a river of
need.
"Discoveries directly follow funding, and pancreatic cancer
receives little in comparison to the percentage of lives it takes,"
said Dr. Von Hoff, who leads the team of 46 physicians from around
the world who form the backbone of globalCure. "Having the
commitment of Mattress Firm will elevate globalCure's efforts, and
the monies raised will allow us to aggressively pursue the
underlying genetic causes of the disease and drive an unprecedented
number of new therapeutic approaches to patient care."
Donations to globalCure enable the international team of
physicians to move quickly on promising new clinical therapies.
Specifically, the funds enable globalCure scientists and clinicians
to: identify diagnostic biomarkers as drug targets; identify and
improve new agents that affect the activity of those targets; and
evaluate new agents and take the most promising ones to clinical
trials for patients in advanced stages of pancreatic cancer.
# # #
About Mattress Firm
Houston-based Mattress Firm (www.mattressfirm.com) is one of the
nation's premier specialty bedding retailers, offering a broad
selection of both traditional and specialty mattresses from leading
manufacturers, including Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, Simmons, Stearns
& Foster, and Sleep to Live. Founded in 1986, Mattress Firm's
purpose is to improve lives one night at a time. With more than 600
stores across 23 states, Mattress Firm offers consumers the benefit
of highly trained, knowledgeable sales professionals, a broad
product offering, and competitive prices in an attractive and
comfortable store environment. Mattress Firm is majority owned by
J.W. Childs Associates, L.P. ("JWC"), a private equity firm based
in Boston, MA investing in middle-market consumer products and
specialty retail growth companies. Since 1995, JWC has
invested in more than 40 companies with a total transaction value
of over $12 billion.
About TGen
The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix,
Arizona-based non-profit organization dedicated to conducting
groundbreaking research with life changing results. Research at
TGen is focused on helping patients with diseases such as cancer,
neurological disorders and diabetes. TGen is on the cutting edge of
translational research where investigators are able to unravel the
genetic components of common and complex diseases. Working with
collaborators in the scientific and medical communities, TGen
believes it can make a substantial contribution to the efficiency
and effectiveness of the translational process. TGen is affiliated
with the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
For more information, visit: www.tgen.org.
About globalCure
GlobalCure is an exciting new initiative that embraces a
comprehensive array of cross-disciplinary groups in a coordinated
effort to help pancreatic cancer patients in the near-term and
ultimately put an end to this devastating disease. For more
information, visit www.gcure.org.
Press Contacts:
Steve Yozwiak
TGen Senior Science Writer
602-343-8704
[email protected]
Cole Mark
Mattress Firm Communications Specialist
713.343.3606
[email protected]
