Although the cancer death rate in the U.S. has declined in recent years, an estimated 618,120 are expected to die from cancer in 2025. Several factors have contributed to the decrease of nearly 5,500 deaths, including early detection, improved treatments, research supported by donations and a reduction in smoking-related deaths. Additionally, according to the American Cancer Society, nearly one in two Americans will experience some type of cancer in their lifetime.
While not all cancers will prove fatal, some types of cancer such as pancreatic, lung and breast cancers have either low survival rates or can prove to be insidious and recur repeatedly. In 2025, there are expected to be nearly 2 million new cases of cancer diagnosed in the U.S. worldwide, that number jumping to an astounding 20 million.
In 1989, Carol Bushong, a civil servant working for the Department of the Army as an educational specialist, was told she had breast cancer. Bushong, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her baccalaureate and master’s degrees in adult education, took the news with her typical “this can be beat” attitude. That year the number of new cancer cases in the U.S. passed the one million mark for the first time. Still, Bushong considered herself lucky, as she was not one of the 500,000 of those new cases that would prove fatal.
Fortunately, as of 2025, the percentage of yearly cancer deaths has dropped from 50 percent to as low as 39 percent. As with many cancer survivors, Bushong felt a need to contribute and give back after surviving her cancer. While in recovery and working as a civil servant with the U.S. Department of the Army that required extensive travel, she was unable to give back on what she felt was a scale that would make a larger impact on the cancer community.
Sadly, that nagging need to contribute became even more urgent after the death of her brother and only sibling, William Bushong, in March of 2017 of lymphoid leukemia. According to a CBS News poll in 2017, nearly 54 percent of all people in the U.S. would have a direct family member diagnosed with cancer that year. Struggling with depression after his death, Bushong met with a group of friends to discuss a way for her to deal with her grief and contribute to the American Cancer Society to honor his death. While ideas such as bake sales and car washes were discussed, that was still not the grand scale that Bushong had imagined.
An avid golfer, Bushong had the idea for a lady’s golf tournament. In addition, after meeting a cancer patient who was unable to receive treatment because of lack of transportation, it became important to Bushong to keep all donations within the Hampton Roads community. Founded in 2017, mere months after her brother’s death, the first Tee Off for a Cure was held in October of that year. Bushong was a woman on a mission.
Supported by the American Cancer Society, last year’s tournament raised more than $11,000 for the community in the form of financial assistance, rides to treatment and more. Played each October, when the golf courses are more readily available for large tournaments, and the weather is a bit cooler, Bushong limits the field to 144 players — women only. Each team is a “Captain’s Choice” of four team members in a scramble format with a shotgun start. This year’s ninth annual tournament will be played October 1 at Ford’s Colony.
Each year the successful tournament provides even more funds to the community for cancer research and assistance. Bushong, and her many volunteers, are proud of the efforts to grow this tournament every year and hope as the tournament becomes more visible in the Hampton Roads area, contributions will grow, and each tournament will surpass the previous year.
TO THE POINT:
Tee Off for a Cure
Address: 814 Sandy Bay Cove, Newport News, VA, 23602
Contact: Carol Bushong, Founder
Email: cbushong80@gmail.com
Phone: 910-476-6504
Facebook: facebook.com/ TeeOffForaCure757
