Bonspiel for Lupus Research Exceeds Goals

The Four Seasons Curling Club at Fogerty Arena has surpassed its goal of raising $50,000 for lupus research with its third annual Pro-Am curling tournament, “Lupus Spiel USA”. The tournament, or “bonspiel”, held May 13-15, saw a growing number of participants and contributed research dollars. “The goal of the bonspiel is to raise funds for cutting-edge research, and to show the world that lupus is a disease that we should be talking about. We should be proud to stand up for it; it’s OK to say that we have it. And, the numbers are staggering: lupus affects more than 1.5 million Americans, and is more prevalent than AIDS and MS combined. Our goal is to shine a light on lupus and advance a cure, by raising funds for excellent lupus research” says bonspiel organizer, Regan Birr.

The tournament, held at the U.S. Olympic Training Site for curling, saw participants from all over North America, including “celebrity” skips from Ontario: Scott Howard, 2012 World Gold Medalist, and from Saskatchewan: Eugene Hritzuk, a 15-time overall medalist including a gold in Senior Worlds in 2009. Howard went on to win the spiel.

100% of the proceeds from this event were donated to Mayo Clinic, in support of lupus research. One of Mayo Clinic’s experts in lupus, Dr. Timothy Niewold, attended the event on Saturday night and shared research progress with the attendees. Dr. Niewold explained to the audience how lupus affects families and individuals and that a cure is in sight. Dr. Niewold and his impressive team of researchers focus on human models versus mice models, and have found success looking at predictive markers, which may lead to a window for preventative measures. His team has also discovered genes associated with lupus. With their work on familial links with lupus, Dr. Niewold is gathering information from family members of those with the disease.

Topics discussed at the event were inspiring, further incenting participants to give generously during the animated live auction hosted by Fogerty’s Director of Curling, John Benton. Two powerful testimonials were given, honoring those who lost their lives to lupus. Jaime Quello honored his sister, Deb (Quello) Marsh. Maurice Roberge spoke about his beloved son, Chip Roberge.

In summary, the final numbers are just in excess of $55,000 with donations continuing to come in. In its first year, 2014, the spiel raised $23,000. In 2015 it raised $34,000 and this year the goal was to exceed $50,000. “We couldn’t be more thrilled”, says Regan, along with her husband, ice-maker for the Four Seasons Curling Club, Todd Birr, also a celebrity skip, and co-organizer of the spiel. “We are extremely grateful for the support of the community and the generosity of the curling family”, says Todd.

Participants came from near and far. Tom Dias from California says, “Every time I go back to the Midwest there are more and more people that remember me. I had a great time.”

For more information about lupus research at Mayo Clinic, please visit: www.mayoclinic.org.

To make a contribution in support of lupus research at Mayo contact the Department of Development at 1-855-852-8129.

Photo 1: Lupus Spiel USA 2016 attendants.

Photo 2: Organizer Regan Birrand her family. From left to right, Janet Scholz, sister Rachel Maize, Regan Birr, and Jamie Scholz, credit Rich Harmer Photography