Dr. Patrick Boland, a native of Monasterevin, Co. Kildare, is set to be honored for his dedicated fight against cancer by way of a Team Trinity/Leukemia and Lymphoma Society benefit.

Boland is a full-time, senior member of the Orthopedic Service at the Department of Surgery at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. There, he specializes in the management of malignant and benign tumors of the bones - including those of the spine and pelvis - and in soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities. He also specializes in the management of cancers of the lung, breasts and other organs when they spread to the bone.

Boland is involved in extensive research activities, including ongoing clinical research into sacral tumors and in the assessment of quality of life in patients with metastatic bone cancer.

With the generous assistance of the Irish community in New York, Boland has been able to assist in the education of Irish doctors by affording them the opportunity to study at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and return to Ireland with newly acquired expertise.

The name “Team Trinity” was developed by organizers when the owner of Eileen’s County Kitchen in Yonkers, Eileen Collum Mannion, was asked by the Westchester Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to be one of its Champions of Hope.

Though the challenge was daunting, it was still one that could be accomplished by assembling a group of Irish Americans with a great desire to help. Team Trinity also came together in the hope of reversing any negative portrayals of Irish immigrants and Irish Americans in general.

With this in mind a special event to honor Boland and to raise much-needed funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will be held at the Empire Casino in Yonkers on Friday, May 11.

The banquet will be held in the Good Time Room on the casino’s third floor. Cocktail hour will be held from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm, followed by dinner and musical entertainment from 8:00 pm – midnight.

Tickets are priced at $150 per person; for tickets and information contact banquet chairperson Ursula McIntyre at 914-318-5501 or Umcintyre@yonkersraceway.com. For journal advertising contact Eugene Collum at 914-424-6341.