KAILUA-KONA — Frank Sayre and Laura Mallery-Sayre are known on the Big Island for helping save lives through the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation.
A lesser known fact about them is they are survivors themselves, of melanoma skin cancer.
The two received the Courage Award at the annual Hawaii Comprehensive Cancer Coalition Summit on Wednesday at the Grand Naniloa Hotel in Hilo. The award honors cancer survivors that have made great contributions to their community.
“You’re humbled when you receive an award like this because there’s so many people that you feel are more deserving than yourself,” Mallery-Sayre said. “It’s very wonderful to have the acknowledgment. It’s something we will cherish forever.”
The first recipient of the Courage Award was U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono, who received the award at last year’s Honolulu summit. Hirono was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer in 2017.
“The Hawaii Comprehensive Cancer Coalition is honored to present the Courage Award to the Sayres,” Coalition chair Brenda Hernandez said. “As cancer survivors they have displayed incredible generosity and compassion in their outstanding contributions to the community through the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation. We are truly humbled to honor them.”
Mallery-Sayre was diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer in 2010, six months after her husband Frank was diagnosed with the same disease.
The two went to Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu to have the skin cancer surgically removed after an early detection via biopsy by Kailua-Kona dermatologist Dr. Monica Scheel. Mallery-Sayre credits Scheel and Queen’s Medical Center melanoma oncologist Dr. Shane Morita with saving the couple’s lives.
“At this stage we’re survivors. You never know with melanoma,” Mallery-Sayre said. “If we didn’t get the death sentence, we got the life sentence. It can always come back. We have to be vigilant now about being pre-checked.”
Mallery-Sayre said the Hawaii Comprehensive Cancer Coalition is an integral part of helping to cure cancer in patients across the state.
“We have an amazing coalition of cancer oncologists and physicians and educators that are working hand in hand to make a difference in people’s lives and the rate of cancer, particularly here on the Big Island,” Mallery-Sayre said.
The Sayre couple founded the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation in honor of their 25-year-old son, who died in 1997 while hiking through Pololu Valley. The two wanted to honor the firefighters who risked their lives to find Daniel, and through the years, the foundation has gathered donations of more than $4 million, which are used to purchase rescue equipment required by the fire department.
“What Frank and I our doing with the Daniel Sayre Foundation, it’s very rewarding for us to do this,” Mallery-Sayre said. “And to be allowed the time to continue to do this by being diagnosed in the very early stages of our skin cancer and have it successfully removed, so that we continue to serve out community through the foundation is just huge for us.”
For 2020, Mallery-Sayre said the foundation is hoping to raise enough money to buy battery-packed jaws of life, as opposed to jaws of life run by hydraulic units, two new water safety crafts, and a new PA system for Kua Bay.
The foundation’s big project for the new year, however, will be getting a new medevac helicopter to replace the one used in South Kohala. Mallery-Sayre said there’s only one medevac helicopter and one rescue helicopter on the island. The medevac helicopter is 27 years old and has constant mechanical issues.
“Our goal as a foundation is to ensure we work together as a community to ensure that it comes to fruition,” Mallery-Sayre said. “That we get that new helicopter so our rescue personnel and our pilots are flying a safe helicopter and they can be efficient in getting to victims in the most efficient manner to the hospital.”