For the ninth year in a row, Jim Hourigan and Jerry Whalen made a trek to the Duke Raleigh Cancer Center with a check in hand. Every year since 2009, the pair has organized a golf tournament to honor Jerry’s late wife (“Midge”), and donated the proceeds to Duke Raleigh. To date, they have donated approximately $30,000 to help cancer patients like Midge.
Midge was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2007, and received treatment at Duke Raleigh.
“They were very good to me, my wife, and my family,” Jerry says. “When my children came to visit the staff would let them see their mother at all hours. They really went the extra mile, and I didn’t meet anybody who worked there that wasn’t happy.”
When his wife passed away in 2008, his friends in the Eagle Ridge Community helped him put together a golf tournament in her honor. The first tournament was small, with only 32 players, but “it just evolved,” Jim says. The tournament has since been extended to two-days, and participation has doubled. The $11,000 they raised this year was donated to the Duke Raleigh Cancer Center and Transitions Hospice.
“We’re proud of it and know the money is going to good use,” Jerry says. “Golf is a wonderful game of camaraderie, and it’s great to see everybody coming together for this cause.”
Thank you to Jim and Jerry, and all the participants in the Midge Cup event, for their generous contributions to Duke Raleigh!
Photo: Jim Hourigan, Cancer Center Navigator Julie McQueen, and Jerry Whalen
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