Stage 5 Tribe and Musicians That Lead

Stage 5 tribes are focused on having a global impact, and I came across one today.  The Love Hope Strength Foundation is Stage 5 tribe that was created to raise funds for cancer treatment around the world.  It was also founded by a musician and an entertainment event insurer.  I love hearing about musicians applying their talents to causes like this.

Mike Peters is known primarily as lead singer and songwriter of internationally acclaimed Welsh rock and roll band, The Alarm. He is also a cancer survivor two times over. Mike has successfully fought The Big C on two occasions; once in 1995 when he battled Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and more recently in 2006 when he was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocyte Leukemia (CLL). Throughout a six month spell of high dose chemotherapy, Mike Peters continued to play and perform with his band The Alarm, taking to the stage each time in his trademark 'green' combat fatigues (which became his health talisman after a faith healer gave him the revelation that 'green' was the healing color in his life).

James Chippendale is president of CSI Entertainment Insurance, one of the country's largest entertainment and sports insurance brokers and has worked on events featuring some of the world's top entertainers including Lollapalooza, Global Gathering, Ultra Music Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival and concerts featuring Gwen Stefani, REM, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ludacris, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Bob Dylan, Motley Crue, Nelly, and Coldplay. James also provides risk management for some of the world's top athletes including Lance Armstrong and the Discovery Channel Cycling Team.

In March of 2000, James was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of leukemia. His doctors gave him a 50% chance of survival but after three rounds of intense chemotherapy, radiation and a bone marrow transplant from a German donor, James came back healthier and stronger and ready to join the battle in helping those who helped him.

Recently, the Love Hope Strength foundation hosted an event recently called "Peru Rocks", where 63 travelers - including musicians from The Fixx, Fastball, The Alarm and more - along with cancer survivors, and their supporters from around the world joined together to raise funds and awareness of cancer-related issues in Peru. The trip took the trekkers from Cuzco, Peru to the heights of Machu Picchu, back down to Lima, where they met with patients and doctors of INEN, Peru's main cancer center. The travelers finished their trip with a concert in Lima on October 15th. Funds raised on the trip were donated to INEN, and will be used to establish a fully staffed and equipped medical bus that will serve rural Peru, screening residents for cancer.

Take a look at the FABULOUS photos taken on this trip, courtesy of the Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/10/peru_rocks.html

More information on the Love Hope Strength Foundation can be found here http://www.lovehopestrength.org/main.php