Father’s Day
In honor of Father’s Day, meet two dads whose lives have been forever changed by cancer. And consider honoring or remembering a dad or granddad in your life by making a gift of hope for a future without cancer with a donation to Massey
GIVE IN HONOR OF FATHER'S DAYAt VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, we are committed to advancing research and education to prevent, treat, and ultimately, cure cancer. Father’s Day is a day to honor and celebrate all that our dads (and granddads) do for us everyday. From sharing expertise or a lifetime of advice to simply just being there, fathers are one of the world’s great gifts.
On Father's Day, or any day, we invite you to consider making a gift to Massey to honor or remember a father or father figure in your life.
Two dads whose lives have been forever changed by cancer.
Meet Bobby Harger and Larry Loving — two dads and granddads whose lives have been forever changed by cancer. One is a story of survival and the other of loss, but both are stories also of HOPE.
Bobby Harger is a cancer survivor - and a dad and granddad - who is defying the odds.
Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2016, Harger’s mission - for his grandkids - is just to stay alive.
His type of cancer has an average life span of five years, but patients can live 15 or even 20 years, his doctors told him. That was all the motivation he needed. Spring time with his family – and especially his grandchildren – is his key motivator to survive. At the time of his diagnosis, Harger had 9 grandchildren; today he has 11.
Today, Harger is celebrating six years of surviving – and thriving – with cancer. He plans to be around to watch his grandchildren grow up - and he is grateful to have Massey by his side.
At Massey, we are getting closer to a future without cancer.
And a future with more Father's Days. For moms, for children, for families. And for Dads and Grandads - like Bobby and Larry. Help us get there.
For more information about tribute and honorary gifts, please contact Robinette Tiller, senior coordinator of annual giving, at (804) 828-0034 or rmtiller@vcu.edu.
For a minimum gift of $25, Massey will send a personalized Tribute Card to your honoree.
A Loving gift and a legacy of hope
For Larry Loving, Sr., cancer has tested his faith. Loving and his wife, Christiane, lost two of their four children – both to brain cancer – within three years of each other. First, Noëlle, their compassionate second-born, died of an inoperable brain tumor in 2017. Tthree years later, their youngest, Philip, lost a 10-year battle with brain cancer, two months after the birth of his second child.
The unbearable loss made Loving question his faith, but he never lost hope. As a way to give meaning to their loss, the Loving family made a gift of $200,000 to name a family lounge in Massey’s new Adult Outpatient Pavilion, a state-of-the-art facility housing all of Massey’s outpatient services in downtown Richmond.
The gift was a way to honor and remember Noëlle and Phil and to help bring hope and comfort to other families fighting cancer at Massey.
It is also a gift for Phil Loving’s children. “When Darius and Violet see their dad’s name on the wall, we hope they will think, ‘My gosh, that's my dad. He was, and still is, an important person. Look at what he helped make possible.’”
Read more: Loving gift and legacy of hope
Make a gift today on Father’s Day
