In December of 2000, as families were heading home to see their loved ones for the holidays, doctors in Buffalo, NY diagnosed Robert Maxwell with a form of leukemia. It was a very sobering, scary moment for the Maxwell family, but thanks to a highly-effective initial series of chemotherapy treatments over the next month, the leukemia was knocked into remission where it's remained to this day.

In realizing his dad's mortality for the first time (and following his sister Ellen's philanthropic example), Robert's son, Tim, set out to find a way to show support for his father and others with blood cancer.

"Having a loved one diagnosed with a disease like cancer can make you feel pretty powerless," Tim said. "It's not something you can personally do anything about -- it's out of your control. So, I decided to do the only thing I could think to do: raise money for those who could help my father."

And with that, 'The Dude Hates Cancer!' charity bowling tournament was born. The story doesn't quite end there, however, because as he was beginning to organize the second annual bowling tournament in 2007, Tim's mother was diagnosed with another form of blood cancer, Multiple Myeloma.

"I was in shock. Here I was organizing an event to raise money for blood cancer research in honor of my father, when, in fact, it turned out that it applied to both of my parents. It was certainly tough news to come to grips with, but it also gave me that much more reason and motivation to make this event something special."

Through hard work and some growing pains, TDHC has become something special. After growing steadily over the first three years (from $1400 to $3700 to $5100 raised for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)), 'The Dude' rose to an entirely new level in 2009 when it raised over $27,300 for LLS, earning status as an official LLS charity event.

"It's been incredible to watch it grow through the years, and the leap the event took in 2009 was just amazing. But we're just getting started. There's no limit to how big this can become."