Date: March 29, 2024
A Cure Starts With You
“One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts”
Psalm 145:4
Location: Point Mallard Golf Course, 2600 Point Mallard Dr SE, Decatur, AL 35601
Our Story
The Keenum family began with 11 very close-knit brothers and sisters. They were leaders - grounded in a strong Christian faith and a loyalty to family and community. Avidly working in the schools and church without seeking recognition, they led by example. Sunday mornings were always spent at church followed by a family lunch and some type of backyard pick–up game. Their love of faith, family and community has been their legacy to those of us still proud to carry the Keenum name.
Unfortunately, cancer has made a tremendous impact on the Keenum family. Cancer was the cause of death for Granddaddy Keenum and 9 of his 11 children. Several of those who completed their battle with cancer had to fight it more than once. Cancer has also taken three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Each year, we honor the victims, survivors, and caregivers in their fight against cancer.
This family has a fighting spirit and cannot be shaken. In 1994, we joined forces with Relay for Life and in 2018 we partnered with Lynch Syndrome International. Since 1994, we have raised over $185,000 for cancer patients and research with help from people like you.
Our golf tournament has become our major fundraiser. All of the proceeds from this tournament will be donated to American Cancer Society & Lynch Syndrome International. You can help by providing tournament sponsorship, hole sponsorship, playing in the tournament, or your donation.
We are blessed to have numerous survivors in our family. Our hope is that, through these efforts, the number of survivors will continue to increase and one day a cure will be found.
-The Keenum Family
2023 Tournament
In Memory of Dianne Keenum Gillespie
Throughout her life, Dianne watched family members battle cancer, but she always saw God’s faithfulness in each journey. When she was able, she would sit with sick aunts or visit her uncles and cousins as cancer attacked their bodies. Watching her father suffer with the disease was especially difficult for her, and then each of her siblings were affected.
Diane’s first personal experience was skin cancer. They were able to remove it, but this became a regular occurrence. She handled it much easier than many do, and did not seem concerned over the scars or discomfort. She had screening done regularly every year, which resulted in a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2015. Cancer returned in 2021 and she underwent a single mastectomy and chemotherapy. In the spring of 2022, shortly after completing chemotherapy, Dianne dealt with some health issues that, at the time, seemed unrelated to any type of cancer. After several weeks in the hospital, her family was happy to have her home and feeling more like herself. A trip to the emergency room in September brought news that her breast cancer had metastasized to the brain. She continued fighting and underwent radiation treatments and chemotherapy.
Dianne bravely fought cancer and continued to trust that God had a plan for her life. There were some days that her body did not want to cooperate, but God provided. He carried her all the way to Heaven on December 21, 2022. She was surrounded by family, several of whom were in their own battles with the disease.
We are grateful for the support of family and friends as our Keenum family continues this journey with awareness that cancer is terrible, but more importantly that God is good.
By the time Carolyn Elaine Balch turned 40, her Dad, her Granddad, an uncle, 5 aunts, and a cousin had all experienced at least one cancer diagnosis. Although she has the same genetic marker as the aforementioned, she remained cancer-free and hopeful. Then, just a month before her 73rd birthday, she went for her annual colonoscopy and asked her doctor to perform an endoscopy as well. He found two tumors in her stomach. She had three months of chemotherapy, then surgery to remove her entire stomach. In February 2019, she was diagnosed with high-grade dysplasia that they could not do anything to get rid of, a diagnosis that her dad received in June of 1996 with only 4 more months to live. So time felt very limited. However, in January 2020, she got a call from her oncologist telling her she had been approved for an immunotherapy treatment which had been approved by the FDA for esophageal cancer on July 31, 2019. She began treatments the next week, the tumor is stabilized and she is living a fairly normal life
Throughout all of this, she remained (and still remains) a key organizer of this golf tournament.
Thank you, Aunt Carolyn.
