A local nonprofit is gearing up to fight cancer with bowling balls at its annual fundraising event ahead of the Christmas season.

The late Suad Alie holds one of her three grandchildren, Alexa Alie, now 8 years old.

The Suad Alie and Friends annual bowling benefit is set for Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. at Cherry Hill Lanes, 300 N. Inkster Road in Dearborn Heights.
“My mom, who died in 2005 of ovarian cancer, started the organization,” said organizer Maysam Alie, the daughter of Suad Alie.

Suad Alie was diagnosed in 1999 and in 2002 set out to fulfill a vision of raising awareness about gynecological cancer and funds for cancer research.

Alie grew up in Dearborn’s south end and worked for Dearborn schools.

She lost her battle with cancer in 2005, but her children, husband and friends have carried on her vision, continuing an annual holiday event that started as a Halloween costume party and evolved into a bowling fundraiser that has raised tens of thousands of dollars over the years for Karmanos Cancer Institute.

“We’ve raised, in 7 years, close to $80,00 and donated it to Karmanos,” said Maysam Alie. “All the money goes to female cancers.”

The funds are used for patient services, education and research for illnesses like cervical, ovarian and endometrial cancer, Alie said.

“She wanted to give back… and she felt that it was important to talk about cancer,” Alie said about her mother. “She wanted to encourage people who were also suffering from the problem. So we just try to keep it up.”

Suad Alie and Friends commitee members, from left, top row: Hikmet Alie, Tom Berry, Sue Alie, Alex Ali, Tallal Alie, Nas Miller; bottom row: Wissam Fakhoury, Marilyn Wazney, Tania Alie-Swider, Ken Swider, Maysam Alie, Annie Mangino and Lisa Miller.

The group sends out mailers ahead of the event and collects much of the money from people who can’t attend the $30 a person bowling night, which includes three games, bowling shoes, pizza and pop.
“It’s been a success,” Alie said. “Given that the economy is not good right now, the donations are still coming in.”

She said the effort has always been as much about awareness and open discussion on prevention, detection and treatment, as it is about fundraising.

“Our community has come a long way as far as as talking about not only cancer but also other illnesses,” she said. “When she was first diagnosed, it was more kept on the down low… If you were going through that, it was like almost something to be embarrassed of.”

She said Arab American communities were once seen as difficult to get involved in cancer events.

“Dearborn was considered a tough city to get the community to participate in the [American Cancer Society’s] Relay for Life,” she said.

But that’s changed since Suad Alie and Friends and other groups in the area began putting on their own events.

Seven years ago, there were five teams involved in the Relay for Life. Now about 45 teams participate.

“The growth in that event and the Arab American participation show that Arab Americans are coming and getting involved a lot more now,” Alie said.

“Everything we do is in our mother’s memory. We’re trying to fulfill what she started. She got the ball rolling and we feel it’s our responsibility to keep it going.”

Suad Alie is quoted on the groups website, www.suadalieandfriends.com, as saying “On April 5, 1999 I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. That day began a journey for me. A journey of living with cancer. A journey that, to my surprise, took me in a direction that I did not expect. A journey that, contrary to belief, proved to be the beginning of living, not dying.”

For more information, call 313.516.5403.