Free Concert April 5 at Rogers Borders Books; Tour to Benefit UAMS Myeloma Institute

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – Multiple myeloma research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will benefit when acoustic musical act The Readings perform a free concert at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Borders Books & Music, 2203 Promenade Blvd., in Rogers.


 


The performance is part of the Tour 4 Cure, a concert tour sponsored in part by the bookstore and the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) that is intended to raise awareness and funding for research of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood’s plasma cells. Brothers Chris and Eric Readings will sign CDs and T-shirts, take photos, give away literature and visit with customers before, during and after their performance. Donations will be accepted at the door and at www.Tour4Cure.net.


 


The UAMS Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy will receive a portion of proceeds from the Tour 4 Cure through the MMRF’s support. The MMRF is the largest nonprofit foundation dedicated to funding myeloma research, raising nearly $100 million to fund 70 laboratories worldwide since its creation in 1998. 


 


The Tour 4 Cure show in Rogers is part of an eight-week, eight-city tour for The Readings.


 


The Readings (pronounced “Reddings”) are fraternal twin brothers who, though originally from San Diego, Calif., have carved their own path to success in Nashville. They are fast-rising professional musicians and songwriters who have produced two independent albums, have songs played on radio stations in the United States and around the world, and have an artist page and video on CMT.com (Country Music Television).


 


Their songs have been recorded by other artists in Nashville and continue to be sought after by industry professionals. Their music includes the poignant One of Those Days, a song inspired by their mother’s courageous battle against myeloma. Their mother, who was treated at UAMS after being diagnosed in 1990, died of myeloma in 1995.


 


UAMS treats more than 2,250 patients with myeloma annually at the Myeloma Institute – more myeloma patients than are treated at any other facility in the country. Multiple myeloma is an extremely difficult cancer to cure, yet therapeutic advances, pioneered at UAMS and other centers around the globe, over the past 20 years, have seen 10-year-survival rates increase dramatically.


 


The institute is at the forefront of research. With a dedicated faculty conducting clinical as well as basic science research, Myeloma Institute patients benefit from the rapid transmission of laboratory findings to daily care in the clinical setting.


 


Multiple myeloma is the second largest of the blood cancers, affecting an estimated 750,000 people worldwide. About 50,000 people in the United States are living with multiple myeloma and an estimated 20,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.


 


The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) was founded in 1998 by identical twin sisters Kathy Giusti and Karen Andrews shortly following Kathy’s diagnosis with multiple myeloma. The mission of the MMRF is to aggressively fund research that will lead to the development of new treatments for multiple myeloma.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,538 students and 733 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with about 9,600 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $5 billion a year. Visit www.uams.edu.