Deputy director to take fundraising to new heights

Thorburn

Just how much would you pay to see Andrew Thorburn, the deputy director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, rappel down a 28-story building in downtown Denver?

Then again, how much would you pay to see him make the journey in a kilt?

Thorburn, along with other participants, is raising money for the Cancer League of Colorado. Money from the agency helps support work in his lab and provides funding for other scientists studying cancer. He promises that if he raises $2,000 or more, he'll wear a kilt for the big event Aug. 27 at One Lincoln Park.

Anyone who pledges $1,000 to the Cancer League will get the opportunity to rappel the skyscraper. Thorburn has passed the $1,000 mark and is looking for his next grand.

The nonprofit Cancer League of Colorado has no paid staff and no officers. All donations go directly to cancer research and cancer patient services, and since 1985, the league has donated more than $8 million in grants to those efforts.

Thorburn says money from events like Over the Edge have helped with start-up funding for new research ideas.

"Awhile back my lab was studying a drug we hoped would kill brain cancer cells," Thorburn said on the pledge website. "The drug did that, but along the way, we made an unexpected observation. To take our idea further, we needed seed money, and CLC provided $30,000 for additional experiments. If the ideas we're testing turn out to be correct, this might establish a new way to treat brain cancer, and this initial investment from Cancer League of Colorado – and really, from you – will have played a major role in making it happen."

To make a pledge, or learn more about the Aug. 27-28 Over the Edge event, click here.