BECKMAN VISITS SHRINERS HOSPITAL
Thu, 2007-12-20 13:50
Jack Beckman, driver of the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car
for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, will
make a special appearance at the Los Angeles Shriners Hospital for Children on
Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, at 1:30 P.M., on behalf of the Racers Who Care
program.
Beckman, of North Hills, Calif., finished fifth in the 2007 NHRA Funny Car standings with back-to-back national-event victories during the season. He has also won four championships and over 50 events at the NHRA Sportsman level during his drag-racing career. But his racing accomplishments are overshadowed by the fact that he is a survivor of lymphoma, a form of cancer which he successfully battled and overcame in 2004 after enduring six months of chemotherapy.
The 41-year-old father and husband will be visiting the top-notch Shriners Hospital in Los Angeles in an effort to provide companionship, inspiration and a distraction to the children who are in the same situation he was in not long ago. Beckman has visited similar facilities in the past in an effort to show his love and caring to those who are facing the same situation and challenges that he has experienced. Jack Beckman, driver of the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, will make a special appearance at the Los Angeles Shriners Hospital for Children on Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, at 1:30 P.M., on behalf of the Racers Who Care program.
Beckman, of North Hills, Calif., finished fifth in the 2007 NHRA Funny Car standings with back-to-back national-event victories during the season. He has also won four championships and over 50 events at the NHRA Sportsman level during his drag-racing career. But his racing accomplishments are overshadowed by the fact that he is a survivor of lymphoma, a form of cancer which he successfully battled and overcame in 2004 after enduring six months of chemotherapy.
The 41-year-old father and husband will be visiting the top-notch Shriners Hospital in Los Angeles in an effort to provide companionship, inspiration and a distraction to the children who are in the same situation he was in not long ago. Beckman has visited similar facilities in the past in an effort to show his love and caring to those who are facing the same situation and challenges that he has experienced.
"There are some people out there with some serious health issues," said Beckman, "and there are people out there, for whatever reason, who tend to suffer more than the average person. I don't think that I'm necessarily a better human being since the cancer. I just think it's opened my eyes up and I'm a lot more enlightened than I was before.
"I realize that I'm never going to be Mother Teresa," Beckman explained, "but there were a lot of people who were very beneficial and inspirational to me when I was going through the cancer and to be able to be in that position for somebody else can be very humbling."
Ironically, it was a drag-racing fan whose family member had cancer who alerted Beckman to the situation and he went to visit them. That visit increased his awareness of the issue and helped him realize he could become an ambassador to the sport by starting a tour and making visits to help the morale of patients, telling them that their illness is not necessarily the end of the world.
Soon after, the Racers Who Care program contacted him about visiting other facilities and it has become a major part of Beckman's schedule in between racing.
"It's not a huge effort on my behalf but it might be a huge impact on somebody else's life," Beckman said.
This is Beckman's second L.A.-area presentation within the last month. Beckman made a Quick Tips in Winning in Life presentation at the Santa Monica YMCA on Nov. 30. The L.A. area presentations are part of a community outreach of Racers Who Care's National Child's Day Celebration planned for next summer in Santa Monica. More information is available at www.nationalchildsday.com <http://www.nationalchildsday.com> .
Shriners Hospitals for Children is a one-of-a-kind international health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing specialty pediatric care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs. Their mission is carried out without cost to the patient or the family and without regard to financial need or relationship to a Shriner.
Beckman, of North Hills, Calif., finished fifth in the 2007 NHRA Funny Car standings with back-to-back national-event victories during the season. He has also won four championships and over 50 events at the NHRA Sportsman level during his drag-racing career. But his racing accomplishments are overshadowed by the fact that he is a survivor of lymphoma, a form of cancer which he successfully battled and overcame in 2004 after enduring six months of chemotherapy.
The 41-year-old father and husband will be visiting the top-notch Shriners Hospital in Los Angeles in an effort to provide companionship, inspiration and a distraction to the children who are in the same situation he was in not long ago. Beckman has visited similar facilities in the past in an effort to show his love and caring to those who are facing the same situation and challenges that he has experienced. Jack Beckman, driver of the Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, will make a special appearance at the Los Angeles Shriners Hospital for Children on Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, at 1:30 P.M., on behalf of the Racers Who Care program.
Beckman, of North Hills, Calif., finished fifth in the 2007 NHRA Funny Car standings with back-to-back national-event victories during the season. He has also won four championships and over 50 events at the NHRA Sportsman level during his drag-racing career. But his racing accomplishments are overshadowed by the fact that he is a survivor of lymphoma, a form of cancer which he successfully battled and overcame in 2004 after enduring six months of chemotherapy.
The 41-year-old father and husband will be visiting the top-notch Shriners Hospital in Los Angeles in an effort to provide companionship, inspiration and a distraction to the children who are in the same situation he was in not long ago. Beckman has visited similar facilities in the past in an effort to show his love and caring to those who are facing the same situation and challenges that he has experienced.
"There are some people out there with some serious health issues," said Beckman, "and there are people out there, for whatever reason, who tend to suffer more than the average person. I don't think that I'm necessarily a better human being since the cancer. I just think it's opened my eyes up and I'm a lot more enlightened than I was before.
"I realize that I'm never going to be Mother Teresa," Beckman explained, "but there were a lot of people who were very beneficial and inspirational to me when I was going through the cancer and to be able to be in that position for somebody else can be very humbling."
Ironically, it was a drag-racing fan whose family member had cancer who alerted Beckman to the situation and he went to visit them. That visit increased his awareness of the issue and helped him realize he could become an ambassador to the sport by starting a tour and making visits to help the morale of patients, telling them that their illness is not necessarily the end of the world.
Soon after, the Racers Who Care program contacted him about visiting other facilities and it has become a major part of Beckman's schedule in between racing.
"It's not a huge effort on my behalf but it might be a huge impact on somebody else's life," Beckman said.
This is Beckman's second L.A.-area presentation within the last month. Beckman made a Quick Tips in Winning in Life presentation at the Santa Monica YMCA on Nov. 30. The L.A. area presentations are part of a community outreach of Racers Who Care's National Child's Day Celebration planned for next summer in Santa Monica. More information is available at www.nationalchildsday.com <http://www.nationalchildsday.com> .
Shriners Hospitals for Children is a one-of-a-kind international health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing specialty pediatric care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs. Their mission is carried out without cost to the patient or the family and without regard to financial need or relationship to a Shriner.
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