by Ron Kaplan
NJJN Features Editor

January 17, 2008

Three years ago, Jennifer Goodman Linn was diagnosed with MFH Sarcoma, a disease so rare it affects less than 1 percent of all cancer victims.

Doctors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan “removed a tumor roughly the size of a football from my abdomen,” said the 5'2" Livingston native, who weighed 120 pounds at the time.

Linn, 36, has undergone three surgeries and numerous chemotherapy treatments over the past 16 months; she still has up to nine more to go before her caregivers say she’ll be finished.

Her situation was tenuous. “Very few hospitals have doctors who can handle this type of cancer,” Linn said in a telephone interview with NJ Jewish News. She developed a strong bond with the dozens of staff members who worked on her. “I told them, ‘If you can pull me through this, I want to do something to give back.’”

The fitness enthusiast did so in a “round”-about way.

“It’s very important for me, no matter how I feel, to try to get to the gym multiple times a week. I feel it’s a great way to still feel alive….

“I love cycling. For me, it has been very good during my therapy because you’re really not competing against someone else; you’re just competing with yourself, and I’ve done a lot of that throughout my sickness. I’ve gotten close to a lot of the cycling instructors at my gym and together we decided to create Spin4Survival.”

Managed by Linn and her husband, David, who live in Manhattan, the event consists of teams of five riders completing a four-hour “tour” on a stationary bike. The inaugural event, held in January 2007, raised $200,000 — eight times as much as they were hoping for. According to Sloan-Kettering, it was the single highest fund-raiser ever created by an individual patient.

Linn’s idea was to earmark the money for “orphan” cancers, forms of the disease that are so rare they often go underfunded.

“My doctors like to say that the ‘titans of industry’ throw their stock options at things like breast cancer and lung cancer. But there are a lot of cancers out there that we need to know more about.”
Part of the money also goes toward “survivorship initiatives,” which work on improving the quality of life for recovering cancer patients.

“It used to be that…cancer was a death sentence. The great news is [that since] so many people are living longer, what do we do to make sure that — mentally, physically, psychologically — they’re taking care of themselves?”

Spin4Survival 2008, which takes place Sunday, Jan. 27, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Equinox Columbus Circle health club in Manhattan, will be even bigger and better, Linn said. As of this writing, more than 500 people have signed up, pledging more than $320,000, putting the event well within reach of the $400,000 goal.

Those who can’t make it to New York City can form “virtual teams.”

“If you have a desire to cycle and do something positive that day for cancer research, you can sign up your friends and family and do something from anywhere in the world. We have teams and gyms in Illinois, New Jersey, Texas, Israel, England. We have a team in Hawaii doing snorkeling for survival. My vision is that down the road we can create something like Hands Across America, where people across the country can participate at satellite gyms.”

“No matter where you are, you can do something.”

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Closer to home

One virtual Spin4Survival team comes from Temple Emanu-El of West Essex in Livingston, where Linn’s family have been members for many years. Rabbi Mark Kaiserman told NJJN that Jennifer’s story “has been so amazing and inspirational. There are so many temple members who have connections to Jennifer and her parents…that we’re just looking for ways that we can join in with so many other people in helping make a difference.” He praised Linn for “changing the way that we’re fighting illness and raising money to fight illness, and we wanted to help support her in this incredible mission.”

Linn’s mother, Sandy Goodman of Livingston, worked to set up the JCC MetroWest Spinners, a satellite team that will “ride” in the atrium of the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, Ross Family Campus, West Orange, from noon to 4 p.m.

According to Goodman, the JCC is going to present its membership “with an opportunity to honor or memorialize someone or support cancer research and Jen, and they’re trying to simply start something that they hope will continue in the future.”

Linn appreciated how the event has brought her hometown together.

“There’s going to be a Livingston High School team of classmates of mine, some of whom I haven’t seen in 15 years. It’s really brought a ton of people out of the woodwork, which is really exciting.”

For more information, visit the web site or call the JCC at 973-530-3400.