Golf tournament to benefit Marble Falls graduate battling rare cancer

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

MARBLE FALLS — Fourteen years ago, Mike Ripple underwent the first treatments for a rare form of cancer that statistically only gave him five more years of life.

“He’s been beating it,” said friend and former classmate Coy Guenter.

Ripple graduated from Marble Falls High School in 1987. Doctors diagnosed Ripple with hemangiopericytoma, a rare form of cancer that Ripple said effects maybe one in six million people.[box]IF YOU GO
WHAT: Mike Ripple Benefit Golf Tournament
WHEN: 10 a.m. Aug. 17
WHERE: Hidden Falls Golf Club, 220 Meadowlakes Drive in Meadowlakes
COST: $50 per person
FOR MORE: Call Mike Thelen at (830) 693-3394[/box]

The cancer forms small nodules on the brain stem that can grow together and travel down the spinal column. Ripple has been undergoing treatment for several years.

“He just had some more surgery last year,” Guenter said. “But because of the surgery and cancer, he hasn’t been able to work since September.”

Several of Ripple’s friends and classmate, including Guenter, Steve Rogers and Mike Thelen, began thinking about ways to help their classmate. Guenter said one logical idea was to do something in conjunction with the Marble Falls High School mega-reunion scheduled for Aug. 17.

“We thought, ‘Hey, let’s hold a golf tournament,’” Guenter said. “It just made sense.”

The Mike Ripple Benefit Golf Tournament is set for 10 a.m. Aug. 17 at the Hidden Falls Golf Club, 220 Meadowlakes Drive in Meadowlakes.

The four-person scramble is $50 per person. People can sign up as a team or as individuals and be assigned a team.

Guenter said, along with golfers, organizers also are seeking hole sponsors. The sponsorships are $100.

“We just want to raise some money so we can provide (Ripple’s) family with enough to take care of themselves,” Guenter said.

For more information on the tournament or to sponsor a hole, call Thelen at (830) 693-3394.

Players or sponsors also can mail checks to: Thelen and Associates, 1307 Second St., Marble Falls, TX 78654, and make a note that it’s for the Mike Ripple Benefit Golf Tournament.

daniel@thepicayune.com