Harmony and Hope in Adversity: Bob McAuley’s Lymphoma Journey and Fundraising Legacy

When Bob McAuley, 64, first noticed a lump on his neck nearly 16 years ago, he didn’t realize his life was about to change or how much lymphoma would be a part of it. On Valentine’s Day in 2009, McAuley was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma (FL) – a diagnosis that came as a shock.

”When I was first diagnosed, I had never even heard of lymphoma,” McAuley said. “I’m not really a stand-by-and-wait kind of guy and prefer to take the bull by the horns, so I decided to learn everything I could about it, and I became a student of my particular disease.”

Within two weeks of his diagnosis, McAuley found his way to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, which led him to connect with Bruce D. Cheson, MD, FACP, FAAAS, FASCO, at Georgetown University Hospital and past chair of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Cheson became McAuley’s lymphoma specialist, and the two hit it off from the start.

“The first time I met Dr. Cheson, he walked into the room and asked if I could ride a bike. And I was like, ‘ride a bike? I have cancer! I’m here to see you because I’m dying,’” said McAuley. “But Dr. Cheson responded, ‘OK, that’s great because I do this bike ride fundraiser for the Lymphoma Research Foundation, and you should do it.’”

Instead of dwelling on his diagnosis, McAuley found himself signing up for the Lymphoma Research Ride and raising $100,000, which ignited his competitive side. He trained so intensely for what he thought was a race that he accidentally rode far more than the planned 25-mile course.

“I’m so stupidly competitive that I thought it was a bike race, not a bike ride,” he laughed. “So, I trained for a race and got through the first 12 miles so fast I was lapping the other riders, and they didn’t change the signs, so I ended up doing the course again.”

Rallying His Community Around Lymphoma

Now calling Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia, home, McAuley lives with his wife of 42 years, Laura, in what he describes as an “incredibly communal” neighborhood where he has centered his fundraising efforts.

“It’s one of those communities where literally everybody knows everybody,” he said. “We gather all the time and are constantly doing things as a neighborhood and as friends looking out for each other.”

This community support became especially important when his neighbor and close friend John was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma about four years ago. Drawing on his own experience with the disease, McAuley helped connect John with lymphoma specialists at the University of Virginia, who were able to get John’s lymphoma under control.

“When we knew John was going to be OK, I had lunch with him one day, and I told him I wanted to do something to raise awareness about lymphoma,” McAuley said. “I asked if he would mind if I made him the poster child of an event because he was so connected in the community.”

With John’s blessing, McAuley reached out to Tim Reith, the owner of Mango’s Bar & Grill, a local bar and restaurant, to ask if they would be willing to donate space for a fundraising event. His response was an affirmative “Absolutely!”

Without the help from an amazing organizing committee of neighbors, friends, and family members, McAuley would not have been able to produce the first Harmony4Hope Music Festival in 2023. Since there was not even three months of planning, the results surpassed everyone’s expectations, and the proceeds benefited the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

“We went into this with no expectations and had good friends of ours coming in from Indiana, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia to attend the event,” McAuley said. “And in the first year, we raised $108,000, with honestly no idea what we were doing.”

In 2024, with more organization and planning, they set a second-year fundraising goal of $250,000 and exceeded it by $2,000.

This year, the event grew into a six-hour music festival featuring multiple bands throughout the day. Country, rock, and folk musician Jason Long, whose father passed away from lymphoma, opens the show each year.  Kimberley Dahme, a former bass player of the rock band Boston, and a lymphoma survivor, headlined the show in 2023 and 2024.  This year, Martin and Kelly, rising stars from Nashville, headlined, and were joined on stage by Dr. Cheson, performing crowd pleasers including Sweet Home Alabama and Country Roads.

Activities include “raise the paddle” auctions, 50/50 raffles, and auctioning off guitars signed by the artists. McAuley proudly points out that the event has almost zero overhead costs.

“Every dollar goes to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, with minimal overhead,” he said.

A Growing Impact

What began as a single fundraiser has revealed the extent of lymphoma’s presence in their community.

“We now have nine people connected with our community with the disease or who have lost people in their lives to lymphoma,” McAuley said. “In our local Thursday night dinner group, where we have roughly anywhere from 20 to 30 people at dinner on any given night, three of us have lymphoma.”

I’d like my legacy to be duplicating Harmony4Hope around the country with the support of other Foundation board members.

This growing awareness has turned Harmony4Hope into an invaluable resource for newly diagnosed patients.

“Harmony4Hope is designed to help those who have been touched by lymphoma and to let them know that they are not alone with this disease,” said McAuley. “There are people here to support you and help guide you.”

A Vision for the Future

As a longtime member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors (BOD), McAuley has a broad and ambitious vision for Harmony4Hope.

“I’d like my legacy to be duplicating Harmony4Hope around the country with the support of other Foundation board members,” he said. “We have a proof of concept, and if it works in little bitty Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia, it can pretty much work anywhere. It would be cool to have a Harmony4Hope Day and have 20 or 30 cities put on their own Harmony4Hope concerts.”

For McAuley, the Lymphoma Research Foundation has been central to his own lymphoma journey and his successful fundraising efforts.

“The Foundation is a security blanket for people in the midst of their worst nightmare,” he said. “ I truly believe that lymphoma will one day be a curable disease. There’s such incredible science taking place behind the scenes that people don’t know about yet.”

McAuley’s advice for those newly diagnosed with lymphoma:

“Reach out to the Lymphoma Research Foundation and find people who have lived with your disease. Lymphoma survivors are the beacon of hope and life for this disease – at least they were for me.”

To learn more about and donate to Harmony4Hope, visit lymphoma.org/harmony4hope.