FOR A GOOD CAUSE:Efforts persist against prevalent disease

For the last few years, Michele Roeder has felt surrounded by cancer.

Her father passed away in 2004 from pancreatic cancer, several friends were subsequently diagnosed with breast cancer and last August, her childhood friend Jim Salmon was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, an aggressive blood and bone marrow cancer.

“There was a time when every time I’d pick up the phone, if I hadn’t talked to that person in a while, I was afraid of what they might say,” said Roeder, a Newport Beach resident. “Cancer is just so prevalent.”

When her father died, Roeder decided she would use her grief to do something positive.

She started by organizing a successful benefit for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation with Garys Island at Fashion Island, where she was working at the time, and shortly after, she brought in $50,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in memory of her father.

“I miss my dad so much, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about him, but I know that he would be so happy to know that I am out there doing what I can to help people,” she said.

Her latest venture is dedicated to Salmon, an active father of five from San Bernardino who relapsed last month and retuned to City of Hope in Duarte for chemotherapy.

The cancer center asks that patients’ friends and family donate blood and bone marrow to help replenish its resources, and Roeder is giving locals an opportunity to help. A drive is scheduled for noon to 6 p.m. Thursday at St. Joachim Parish in Costa Mesa.

“Jim just loves life so much, and it is so sad that he can’t live life the way he wants to live it,” she said.

Volunteers who sign up for the bone marrow testing drive — which takes only a cheek swab — are asked to sign up for the national registry, which is severely lacking, Roeder said.

She also encourages anyone of Italian descent to sign up because a match is more likely to come from someone with an ethnic heritage similar to Salmon’s.

In June, Roeder was acknowledged by the Orange County/Inland Empire chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as Woman of the Year after she raised more than $56,000 in 10 weeks, though her philanthropy is not motivated by accolades.

“If I could trade it all in to have my dad back, I would,” she said, beginning to cry.

In addition to her duties as director of marketing for Countrywide Financial in Newport Beach, Roeder devotes several hours each day to charity, whether it’s helping a friend organize a fundraiser or running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. She has raised more than $115,000 for cancer research and treatment.

“My father was a salesman for many years and he told me, ‘If you’re honest and if you believe in what you’re selling, it’s not that difficult to do,” she said. “There is so much to be done, and I am privileged and honored to be in a position where I can make a difference.”

HOW TO HELP

Come to the City of Hope blood and bone marrow testing drive for Jim Salmon from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday at St. Joachim Parish, 1964 Orange Ave., Costa Mesa. Sign up in advance by contacting Michele Roeder at (714) 812-1834 or Michele_Roedercountrywide.com