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Lucky lunch lands N.C. woman a painting by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations Lynda Carver was visiting Charleston last fall when she decided to stop in at 82 Queen restaurant for lunch. The Rutherfordton, N.C., resident bought a sandwich and a glass of wine, and noticed a $5 drawing for a painting by the internationally acclaimed artist, John Carroll Doyle.   82 Queen restaurant owners Steve Kish, second from left, and Joe Sliker, center, present a $30,000 check to Drs. Terry Day, left, and  Dr. Andrew Kraft.  The money was raised through a drawing for a painting of the restaurant by artist John Carroll Doyle, right.   The oil painting, appraised at $16,000, is a depiction of the front of 82 Queen, an upscale restaurant in the historic city. The artwork was being used as a way to raise money for MUSC’s Hollings Cancer Center (HCC) and its head and neck cancer program. The restaurant’s owner, Joe Sliker, survived squamous cell carcinoma (a type of head and neck cancer) after treatment at HCC.   Against her husband’s wishes, Carver bought one ticket. “He didn’t think I would win,” she said laughing. “Now that I’ve won it, I don’t know what I’m going to do with it. I just remember when I bought the ticket, I said, ‘I just love this thing. I hope I win it.’ Now that I have, I’m not sure what to do.”   Carver, who helps her husband with his building business, said they own a boat that is docked in Charleston and plan to pick up the painting within a few days. Meanwhile, considering Doyle’s paintings often multiply in value, she said she will have to talk to her accountant and insurance adjuster. “My husband said I probably should sell it,” she said, “but I could hold onto it for a while and let the value appreciate.”   HCC raised more than $30,000 for the raffle and raised $400 more from print sales the day of the drawing on Friday. Cards and prints will continue to be on sale in an attempt to reach Sliker’s goal of raising $50,000 for the head and neck cancer program. “The money’s out there that’s been committed,” said Sliker, adding that he would make up the difference himself if commitments aren't filled. Just a start Sliker remains committed to HCC and its staff. He said that he plans to raise more money, including a special fundraiser through Southern Wine and Spirits and Louis LaTour winery. Meanwhile, the prints and cards will be on sale in HCC's The Looking Glass shop.   “This is just the beginning,” Sliker said. He praised his doctors, Terry Day, head and neck surgeon; Anand Sharma, radiation oncologist; and Uzair Choudhury, medical oncologist.   Charles Ducker, who runs the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions for Louis LaTour, also is a cancer patient at MUSC. Having been diagnosed with plasmacytoma in the throat, Ducker said that he had to leave the area to find out how extraordinary the care and reputation at MUSC was.   “I went to see Ken Anderson [M.D.] at Dana Farber [Boston], because I knew Vince DeVita [M.D., former director of the National Cancer Institute] and he referred me,” said Ducker, a Florence native. “When I saw Dr. Anderson, he asked, ‘Why did you come here?’ And I said, ‘Because I understand you’re the best in the world.’ And he said, ‘I don’t know if I’m the best in the world, but I know that I learned from the best in the world, and that person is Dr. [Robert] Stuart at MUSC.”   And so, Ducker came back to Charleston where he currently is undergoing radiation therapy. (Ducker said that he had a similar experience when he took his 14-year-old daughter to a noted Miami spinal cord surgeon. The Miami doctor asked why Ducker brought his daughter to Miami when he believed that MUSC had the best in the country—Richard, Gross, M.D.)   “We don’t know what we have here in South Carolina until we leave the area and look inside,” Ducker said. “It seems to take people from outside to remind us of how much we have at MUSC.”   For information, visit http://www.hcc.musc.edu/patientcare/teams.htm.     Friday, April 27, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.