FOREVER OURS

AMBASSADOR DAVID B. HERMELIN, 1936-2000

CANCER HERO

DAVID SACHS
Staff Writer

F

12/1

2000

28

or the past two years, a war has
raged within David Hermelin's
brain — a battle between a
boundless positive spirit and a
rampaging malignant growth.
"I want to survive this thing,"
Hermelin said in September 1999,
eight months after undergoing brain
tumor surgery. "I want to deal with
successes, not failure. I have a real
great attitude and I want to offer
hope."
During the last two years, Hermelin
used his upbeat personality to boost
the spirits of fellow patients and also
to offer hope with the establishment of
the $10 million Hermelin Brain
Tumor Center at Henry Ford Hospital
in Detroit. The facility provides state-
of-the-art treatments and conducts
cutting-edge research.
His friend and treating physician,
Dr. Mark Rosenblum, witnessed it all.
"David was my poster child for posi-
tive mental attitude," said Rosenblum,
chief of neurosurgery at Henry Ford
Hospital. "It's part of the remarkable
nature of who he was. He did it with
his standard straightforward attack on
the problem and optimism."
Hermelin died at the hospital at 4:44
a.m. Nov. 22 of a glioaztoma multi-
forme, the most common form of malig-
nant brain tumor, Rosenblum said.
Hermelin, with his doctor's help,
survived about a year longer than aver-
age for a person with that kind of
tumor.
"A very good result would have been
many, many more years," said
Rosenblum. "Yes, it's better than aver-
age, but our goal is to try to cure this
thing."
Hermelin received three experimen-
tal treatments, including a dime-sized
wafer inserted into the brain to emit
chemotherapy.
Hermelin also received radiation
therapy at the Karmanos Cancer
Institute in the Detroit Medical
Center. He brought energy, enthusi-
asm and organizational skills as a key
board member of Karmanos and its
predecessor, the Michigan Cancer
Foundation (MCF), for more than two
decades. Hermelin created the slogan
"Make Cancer Fail" to match the
MCF acronym.
Karmanos president Dr. William
Peters had a difficult time trying to visit
Hermelin while in treatment. 'After

0

Cancer Fail'

• David Hermelin speaks at the Berkley- Prevention Center dedication ceremony.
In the background is Dr. William Peters of the Karmanos Cancer Institute

Right: At the announcement of the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center in September
1999 are Dr. Mark Rosenblum, donor William Davidson, David Hermelin, Ford
Hospital neurooncologist Dr. Tom Mikkelsen and donor Eugene Applebaum.

wandering around for a while, we found
him in the children's area where he was
doing magic tricks for the kids, trying to
help make them have less difficulty deal-
ing with their illness."
Hermelin's wife, Doreen, said her hus-
band didn't become depressed. "He did-
n't say 'Why me?'" she said. "He just
went ahead and did what he had to do."

Brain Tumor Center

The Hermelins and the Rosenblums
were friends for four years prior to the
illness.
"My wife, Pam, and I met David
and Doreen about six years ago at a
dinner party that Alan E. Schwartz put
on for us when we first arrived in the
community. We met the Hermelins,
not knowing who they were, and
immediately fell in love with them.
"One of the reasons I came to
Detroit was to develop a brain tumor
center and do brain tumor research.
While fighting the ravages of brain
cancer, Hermelin provided $10 mil-
lion, from his own money and from
gifts solicited from friends, to establish
the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center.
"It was the largest philanthropic
donation in the world ever given to
brain tumors," Rosenblum said. The
gift will provide hope for many, many

people in the future."
Many find it ironic that the man
who did so much for others over the
past two decades to "Make Cancer
Fail" would have to shift his battle to
the personal level — from being a can-
cer benefactor to becoming patient.
"It was interesting," said Doreen
Hermelin. "He went to Karmanos for
his radiation and, having talked about
the service for so many years, he was
happy to see the respect they gave the
patients. He was very proud of the way
they treated everybody."

Dedication And Diplomacy

Dr. Michael Brennan, president emeri-
tus of Karmanos, recalls that board
chairman Leonard Simons brought
Hermelin to the Michigan Cancer
Foundation in the late 1970s.
"He came on the board with his
brightness, optimism and efficacious-
ness in the community. In no time, he
was the leader of the board," Brennan
said.
"He was a generous contributor and
he was able to encourage many others
to make substantial gifts. He attracted
other people of substantial capabilities
and influence.
"He was really a gift of God to this
community," Brennan added. "And I

think he built what we now call the
Karmanos Cancer Institute. He was
the architect of it as we know it
today."
In the late 1970s, Hermelin's organi-
zational and diplomatic skills were
essential in establishing the compre-
hensive cancer center at the Detroit
Medical Center, uniting functions of
the MCF, Wayne State University and
the hospital complex to establish the
Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive
Cancer Center. The center thrives
today as part of the Karmanos Cancer
Institute.
"You can imagine the diplomatic
work involved," Brennan said. "David
was priceless in that."
Said Peters, "David was an inspira-
tion to all of us at Karmanos and
MCF. This was a man who thought
constantly about how to help others
who were facing the disease."
Last March, Gilbert and Lila
Silverman and their family dedicated
their renovation of Karmanos' Berkley
PreventiOn Center to friends David
and Doreen Hermelin.
Despite his passing, the many
Detroiters whose lives were helped
through David Hermelin's efforts are
testament that his two-decade effort to
"Make Cancer Fail" will triumph in
the end.

❑

