NBC Nightly News Anchor Brian Williams Presented With MMRF Leadership Award at The 9th Annual Friends For Life Fall Gala

NBC Nightly News Anchor Brian Williams Presented With MMRF Leadership Award at The 9th Annual Friends For Life Fall Gala

-- Inside Edition Host Deborah Norville Returned As Mistress Of Ceremonies --

NEW CANAAN, Conn., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) presented NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams with the MMRF Leadership Award at the 9th Annual Friends for Life Fall Gala at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Conn. on Saturday evening. The event raised more than $1.44 million for the MMRF and its mission to accelerate a cure for multiple myeloma.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051030/NYSU001 )

"Brian Williams has brought incredible dedication and passion to his own family and to many others affected by multiple myeloma," said Kathy Giusti, founder and chief executive office of the MMRF. "We were pleased to honor Brian with the MMRF Leadership Award because his personal dedication and drive makes him an incredible source of strength and inspiration to all of us."

The event was hosted by Corporate Chairman, Alan Panzer, Group President of United States Surgical/Tyco Healthcare, along with Mistress of Ceremonies, and longtime friend to the MMRF, Deborah Norville, host of Inside Edition. TODAY Show news anchor, Ann Curry, MMRF Honorary Board Member, also was on- hand to lend her support during the evening's festivities.

The second most common hematologic (blood) cancer, multiple myeloma, which affects the plasma cell, represents one percent of all cancer diagnoses and two percent of all cancer deaths. Despite recent advances in treating myeloma, the five-year survival rate for multiple myeloma is only 32 percent.

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) was established in 1998 as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization by twin sisters Karen Andrews and Kathy Giusti, a newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patient, with the unique mission of accelerating the search for a cure for multiple myeloma. Today, the MMRF is the largest non-profit foundation dedicated to the single mission of accelerating the search for a cure for multiple myeloma. As the world's number one funder of myeloma research, the MMRF has raised more than $49 million to fund more than 140 research grants at 57 research institutions around the globe. Currently, the MMRF is funding more than 20 new compounds and approaches - in pre-clinical testing and Phase I, II and III clinical trials - that show promise in treating patients at all stages of the disease. For more information about the MMRF, please visit www.themmrf.org.

PHOTO AVAILABLE OF THE EVENING'S CEREMONY INCLUDING:
* Brian Williams, anchor, NBC Nightly News
* Deborah Norville, host, Inside Edition
* Ann Curry, news anchor, NBC TODAY Show
* Kathy Giusti, founder and CEO, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
* Alan Panzer, group president, United States Surgical/Tyco Healthcare

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051030/NYSU001
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN2
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation

CONTACT: For more information or to obtain a digital copy of a photo:
Kim McCall, +1-203-858-7763 or Krista Richardson, +1-646-387-8941, both for
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation

Web site: http://www.themmrf.org/

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