Honored Patient

Honored Hero's Anders Brent, Jean Santora & Joe Tannehill

Participants in The Leukemia Cup Regatta sail in honor of local survivors whose bravery in fighting blood cancer provides inspiration and motivation.

Anders at the age of 3 Anders Now

Anders Brent was born in 1990 and after a healthy start in life was diagnosed with ALL , Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, when he was just two and a half years old. He was diagnosed at Shands Cancer Hospital at the University of Florida and immediately began treatment there. After chemotherapy treatment began he went quickly into remission. After three years of a chemotherapy protocol administered through a port he was considered cancer free. After completing his protocol at Shands he has received yearly exams from Dr. Yahia Rahim in Panama City. Anders began his kindergarten studies at home while he was in treatment and his family and friends supplied his support system. He was able to begin 5K classes at Holy Nativity Episcopal Day School and completed his middle school studies there. He moved to Bay High for his freshman year where he entered the AICE program. He completed his studies at Bay High in 2008, third in his class, passing all of his AICE finals and receiving gold medals each year he competed in the state Latin competitions. He is now attending Stetson University in Deland Florida double majoring in Classical Studies and Philosophy. Last summer he attended Notre Dame University where he studied Ancient Greek and he will return to Notre Dame this summer to study Latin Paleography and Medieval Latin. After receiving annual exams and blood tests to test for any cancer recurrence, he remains cancer free today.

Jean Santora is 49 years old and is a licensed mental health counselor. Originally from Manassas, Virginia, she has worked at the Life Management Center in Panama City for 25 years and is married to Guy Santora, an engineer at the Navy Base. Guy and Jean met at Virginia Tech while they were both studying for their Masters Degrees. They have two adopted children, Richard, 17, and Danielle, 13.

Jean Santora was first diagnosed with Leukemia in 1988 at the age of 27. For more than 6 months, she underwent very painful treatments at Shands Cancer Hospital in Gainesville including radiation, chemo, and a bone marrow transplant. Jean was fortunate to have a brother whose bone marrow matched hers and he became her donor. Jean responded well to the treatments and was considered cured. Unfortunately, 15 years later, she had a relapse in 2003. With better medications available then, as well as another bone marrow transplant, Jean went into remission again after another 6 months and remains cancer free today.

Jean is very grateful to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) for all of the support they have provided her and her family over the years. Her advice to others who are afflicted is to ?keep on fighting?.