Comic's final tour

Friday, June 11, 2004

Missouri man chooses The Great Race as opportunity to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

The Great Race will be coming through the Nevada area on its way to lunch at Fort Scott, Kan., June 23, and two Springfield men will be in it -- one with only six months to live. Mark Dziwanowski has pancreatic cancer and he is using his participation in the race to raise awareness of the disease.

He and his partner, Troy Hughes, are fledgling comics, billed for the race as 2 Comics in a Car, but the laughs came to a halt in 2002 when Dziwanowski was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. One of Dziwanowski's last wishes is to race across the country in the Great Race. The father of two wants to use the checkpoints in the race as sounding boards for cancer awareness.

"I want this race to be my legacy," Dziwanowski said. "I don't want another father to face what I'm going through. Because of limited funding, there historically has not been a lot of research done toward pancreatic cancer, which has a 99 percent mortality rate. Yet less than 1 percent of research money is spent on this type of cancer. I'm determined to use this race as a means to change that."

The team has aggressively gone after donations to help finance the expenses of participating in the Great Race, their goal is to raise $30,000. The hard work has paid off, Jay Leno, host of NBC's Tonight Show, has offered his support in the form of VIP tickets to the Tonight Show, backstage passes and photos with him, to auction on their behalf.

"I was utterly astounded when I picked up the phone," Dziwanowski said. "My memory isn't so great any more after a year and a half of chemotherapy, and I didn't want to forget anything so I told him to call Troy."

Hughes was just as flabbergasted. "I knew we had a good cause, and that's why I sent a press package to him about our trip," Hughes said. "I have to admit I really never expected to get a call from Jay himself."

The two have raised $20,000 towards their goal and are still at it. "I was really astounded when we got started with this, this is really a rich man's race. We attended a regional race in Texas and there were people there who had spent $250,000 on the race. Some had even imported navigators from Europe to help them win," Hughes said. "We entered the race in Texas to get experience for the Great Race and also to see how Mark handled the stress, he's pretty weak and tires easily. He is taking himself off of chemo for four months so he won't be getting so sick during the race."

Hughes is well known in Fort Scott as one of the peanut men. He and his father, Larry Hughes, have antique peanut roasters that they take to festivals around the area and sell roasted peanuts. "You might say we do it for peanuts," Hughes said, hopefully not a taste of the comedy routine he uses in his club appearances.

Because of Dziwanowski's illness, Hughes has been the leader in raising contributions. When not busy in his sign shop Hughes has devoted every free moment to raise awareness and funds for research, help the Dziwanowski family with the staggering medical bills, and also donate to PanCAN, a national non-profit patient advocacy organization that serves the pancreatic cancer community.

Contributions can be made to Team 2 Comics in a Car -- Race for a Cure Fund, c/o People's Bank of the Ozarks, P.O. Box 728, Nixa, MO 65714. Commemorative T-shirts are being offered for those donating $20 or more.