Cancer

A teen cancer patient at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center is set to be serenaded later today by Disney star Savannah Outen. According to the hospital, Outen is to fly in Monday and sing to cancer patient Bo Oliver, who's 16. She'll be singing a song she wrote in Bo's honor. The treat for Bo is the work of Music is Medicine's Donate a Song program.  Any profits from the tune called "Brave and True" will go to Johns Hopkins pediatric oncology research. Like Justin Bieber, Outen launched her career on YouTube.

Charlie Zill leans forward and adjusts the lines to his oxygen supply before slipping a CD into his laptop. "This is a good one," he says softly. Up pops a video of Zill, the long-time fixture at Orioles games, doing his "Zillbilly" dance in full cornpone regalia (overalls, straw hat, fake teeth, orange fiddle) as John Denver's "Country Boy" blares over the Camden Yards PA system during the seventh-inning stretch. Now here's footage of him joking with Orioles fans and doing magic tricks, and what you notice right away is how everyone lights up when they see him. When the video ends, though, Zill's smile fades.

After Jon Spelman got the bad news, he found himself thinking often and at odd moments about "Moby-Dick. " Perhaps that's because the behemoth that was attacking the Baltimore storyteller was as submerged, unreasoning and unpredictable as any great white whale, and every bit as ferocious. Spelman knew that like Captain Ahab, the anti-hero of Herman Melville's novel, he would have to hunt his hunter. He armed himself not just with doctors and surgery and cancer-fighting drugs, but with wit, bravery and a determination to look straight at his own death - whenever it might come.

The Annual AMC Valentine Tea was held Friday, Feb. 15 at Tea by Two in Bel Air with a sellout crowd. Speaker Bob Rich from Saxon's Diamond Centers was entertaining and most informative as he shared samples of diamonds in various colors. Did you know that there are blue, yellow, brown and black diamonds? Oohs and aahs were heard throughout the tea room as samples were passed around for all to see. The Pandora Bracelet, donated by Saxon's, was a tantalizing auction item. The delicious menu for high tea was delicious and varied with lots of chocolate and fabulous teas all served in the charming atmosphere of classic table settings and decorations.

U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings will host a public cancer awareness forum Tuesday at the East Baltimore Medical Center to provide information and resources to patients, supporters and survivors. The 10:30 a.m. forum, "From Survive to Thrive: Equipping Cancer Patients to Live Their Best Lives," will feature experts including Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary Joshua Sharfstein and Dr. Michelle Gourdine, author and former deputy secretary for Public Health Services at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Harford Gymnastics, along with 2,600 other athletes from across the country, competed at the Pink Invitational in Philadelphia, Pa.., Feb. 22 to 24 to support Unite for Her and breast cancer awareness. Harford's Level 7 team shined, taking first place in a field of tough competitors. Additionally, Harford took second at Levels 6 and 8, third at Level 5 and fourth at Level 9. The entire Harford team (Levels 4 to 9) had 22 athletes score above 36 in all-around and four gymnasts tallied all-around scores above 37. A new club beam record was set at Level 7 and one of Harford's Level 9 athletes was recognized with the Strength of Character Award.

March is observed across the nation as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Many survivors, patients, caregivers and others whose lives have been affected by colorectal cancer come together to generate awareness of the importance of getting screened and also encouraging loved ones to get screened. According to the American Cancer Society, excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women in the United States. In 2013, the American Cancer Society estimates 102,480 new cases of colon cancer and 40,340 new cases of rectal cancer will be reported.

Bernie O'Brien is a big burly guy with a crop of red hair. But sometime after noon Sunday, he'll be sporting a shiny bald head. So too will at least 80 other people milling about Fado Irish Pub, the Annapolis bar that O'Brien manages. It's for a good cause. Charitable events usually conjure up images of adults in evening attire attending a gala, or of running a few miles and going home with a tee shirt as a memento — not a something as personal as a shaved head. But for the past 10 years, O'Brien has been a member of the "baldtenders team," a local group of bartenders who shave their heads as participants in an annual St. Baldrick's Foundation event that raises money for pediatric cancer research.

Mary J. Corey, whose personal warmth was matched by a drive that led her to become the first woman in The Baltimore Sun's 176-year history to head its newsroom, died Tuesday of breast cancer . The Sun's senior vice president and director of content, who was 49, essentially grew up at her hometown paper, joining it as a college intern and rising through its reporting and editing ranks. She led The Sun to regional Newspaper of the Year honors during the past two years and spearheaded new print and digital sections while building on its tradition of investigative journalism.

Otis R. "Damon" Harris Jr., a Baltimore singer who performed with the Temptations during the 1970s and later used his own diagnosis of prostate cancer to help raise awareness of the disease in African-American men, died Feb. 18 from the disease at Joseph Richey Hospice. The Owings Mills resident was 62. "Singing was his thing. When we were kids, his ambition was to be a singer for the Temptations. We did talent shows where we played Temps records and he'd sing," said Chuck Woodson, a cousin and broadcaster who recently retired as general manager of WFBR-AM 1590.