PEOPLE / SNIPPETS

• Levon Helm’s first solo studio album in 25 years, Dirt Farmer, earned a Grammy nomination for the Best Traditional Folk Album. Helm, 67, former drummer and vocalist for The Band, was left barely able to speak after his 1996 throat cancer diagnosis—28 radiation treatments, along with surgery to remove the cancerous tumor from his larynx, silenced his voice to a whisper.
  
  WEB UPDATE: Levon Helm won two Grammy Awards: His recently released album Dirt Farmer won the award for Best Traditional Folk Album, and The Band was presented a lifetime achievement honor at the awards ceremony Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.
  
  
• Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester, diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006, is the 2007 winner of the Tony Conigliaro Award, presented annually to a player for overcoming adversity through spirit, determination and courage. ...
  
  
• Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne donated $800,000 in proceeds from an auction to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. ...
  
  
• The Tug McGraw Foundation annual gala raised more than $300,000 for pioneering brain cancer research focusing on quality-of-life issues. ...
  
  

[THESE ITEMS APPEAR IN FULL IN THE SPRING 2008 ISSUE OF HEAL]