By: centraljersey.com
MONTGOMERY – The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has named three township residents as its only individual honorees this year.
At the CINJ’s 15th annual Award of Hope Gala Oct. 2, Isaac Yi Kim, a doctor at the institute, will receive the Award of Hope for Leadership in Research and Patient Care. Brothers Harry and Sandy August, both students at Montgomery High School, will be the first Young Philanthropist Honorees the institute has named.
The awards were announced Aug. 31 and the other honorees are C.R. Bard, Inc. and The J. Seward Johnson, Sr. 1963 Charitable Trust.The August brothers were named because of their charity work, a large part of which is the Century for the Cure 100-mile bike ride scheduled this year for Sept. 11. Their father, David August, is a physician at CINJ, and the family got involved in the ride when Harry, now 15, was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah in 2007.
The ride – which starts and ends at Camp Riverbend in Warren after a circuitous route through the Great Swamp, Far Hills and Bedminster – was founded by Scott Glickman of Warren. He was treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma a decade ago by the staff at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick.
Since the family began riding, they have raised over $8,000 for the ride, which donates its proceeds to the institute. To donate or for more information on the ride, visit www.centuryforthecure.com.
Sandy, 17, said he got interested in the ride the year after his brother and father started doing it.
"The fact my brother did it kind of pulled me in," he said. "I always thought I might try, and I felt a little left out. I wanted to help out and it seemed like a great cause."
Despite their packed schedules, Harry and Sandy have been hard at work training for the long journey.
"It takes up a lot of time, especially for me during the fall," said Harry, a rising sophomore, who said he’s "busy 24/7" during football season while his brother is that busy all year long.
Sandy is a competitive swimmer and rising senior who spent a large part of the summer visiting colleges and the rest of it working as a lifeguard at two clubs in the township.
"It’s definitely really hard," Sandy said. "I spend a lot of time biking to get in shape. I swim all year round, but I do a lot of biking in August."
He said he, Harry and their father usually manage to train together a few times before the race, but not as often as they’d like to due to their busy lives, but the work is worth it.
"It’s a really good feeling, knowing we put in as much time and effort as we do to finish 100 miles… and to know we’re helping out," Sandy said. "Cancer’s a horrible disease and we’re just doing our part to fight it."
In addition to their work on the Century ride, the August family-which also includes younger brother Eitan and mother Barbara-organizes food drives and assembles Purim baskets to help feed the hungry each year at Temple Sholom in Bridgewater. Harry also volunteers with athletics through both the Special Olympics and Unified Sports, a weekly league that partners students athletes with others with special needs.
Dr. Kim, 41, is the chief of the Section of Urologic Oncology at CINJ and an associate professor of surgery at the institute-affiliated Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is one of only a handful of physicians at the institute that specializes in robotic, minimally invasive surgery, and the only who does so for prostate cancer patients. "His work embodies the ideal of the physician-scientist and captures the essence of the Foundation’s Award of Hope for Leadership in Research and Patient Care," the institute said in a release announcing the awards.
On a typical day, Dr. Kim, a San Francisco native, said he either sees nearly 30 patients or performs two to three surgeries. Since he came to the institute from California five years ago he’s performed 686 operations.
The oncologist said he was drawn to robotic surgery by the effects he saw in patients who were recovering from it.
"When I first saw the technology in 1999, I had seen prior to that how patients were in the morning after the day of their prostate cancer surgery. When I saw when it was first done with a robot, it was like night and day… A lot of them were happier, or in not as much in pain as before, and they looked ‘healthier’ than patients who had open surgery done. They just looked more comfortable."
Dr. Kim said patients who have robotic surgery regain bladder control and sexual function faster than their counterparts who undergo traditional surgery. Another advantage is the lack of a need for blood transfusions, which between 10 and 20 percent of traditional surgeries require.
"This is a relatively new technology so not many surgeons do it, but it has led to a much improved outcome for a lot of men who have prostate cancer," he said.
A recognized physician in his field, Dr. Kim said he has had patients come from afar for his treatment. One 76-year-old man came from Nebraska, where he was told he was too old to have prostate cancer surgery, but Dr. Kim said the man’s daughter, a nurse, had heard of him and got her father to New Brunswick for surgery. "I heard three months ago that he’s doing quite well in Nebraska," Dr. Kim said.
"It’s a great honor for me," he said of the award. "I know all the people who have received the award previously and these are really important people who’ve done a lot of great work in their fields. It’s quite an honor to get within five years.
"It’s humbling, but I take that as encouragement to continue what I do and also to improve patient care."
The August brothers said they too were proud to be among those named by the institute.
"It feels like an honor being the first and also getting the award in general," Harry said of the Young Philanthropist Award, and his brother agreed.
"It’s a tremendous honor," Sandy said. "I never expected to get something like this."
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