Event Organizers

Lisa Quinn is a 38-year-old Springdale native. She attended Springdale High School and The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She earned a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education and went on to teach at Walker Elementary school for 13 years. She decided in April 2015 to take a year off teaching to focus on just being a mom to her 6-year-old son, Cooper, and 3-year-old daughter, Karis. That following July she had some pain and felt a knot under her right breast. A doctor’s appointment the next morning led her to a stage IV breast cancer diagnosis and her reason for not working quickly changed.

Lisa believes that her job now is to educate adults about metastatic breast cancer. She dedicates much of her time talking in front of groups about how she discovered her cancer, the diagnosis process, and advocating for Metavivor. She met Kelli Parker on Facebook and knew immediately that she and her husband had to become involved with The Northwest Arkansas Metsquerade. Lisa has been in treatment for the last 20 months and is responding well to her current treatment. Lisa is thankful for having minimal side effects and lives a relatively normal life. She enjoys watching her son play sports, cuddling with her daughter, and hanging out with her family and friends. She is hopeful for many more years planning Metavivor fundraisers, especially The Annual Metsquerade and watching her children grow up.

Lisa’s contact information:
479 790-4826
lisa@nwamets.org

Patrick Quinn lives in Springdale, Arkansas.  He has been married to his wife, Lisa Quinn, since 2001 and has two children, Cooper and Karis.  He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2004 with a M.A. in Communication.  He has worked with Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney and Faucette Real Estate since 2006.

In 2015 Lisa was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at the age of 36.  After the initial shock of the diagnosis, Patrick and Lisa joined forces with Kelli Davis and started the Northwest Arkansas Metsquerade in 2016.  The Metsquerade is a private fundraiser that donates all proceeds to Metavivor Research & Support Inc.  In addition to the NWA Metsquerade, Patrick helps coordinate the spring and fall Runway IV Research events, the national Metaribbon Challenge and other fundraising and awareness locally.

On a national level, Patrick is the Vice-President and Director of Fundraising for Metavivor.  In addition to the fundraisers in Northwest Arkansas, Patrick is responsible for helping answer questions for national fundraisers such as the Metsquerades in  Florida (Estero and Orlando) , Illinois, North Carolina, Minneapolis, and Ohio, the Metabash in New York, and several other fundraisers.  His goal is to get as many fundraisers going in every state from ones that raise $5,000 to ones that raise over a $1,000,000.

Patrick advocates nationally at the Washington Capitol for more metastatic research, the Right to Try Act (passed in 2018), and securing more money from the National Institute of Health and the Department of Defense for metastatic cancers.   He is active on a steering committee with Metavivor and the Metastasis Research Society that is working on a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Grant.  Results were presented at the Moffit Center in Tampa, FL in 2018 and the committee will begin working on the second year portion of the grant for results in 2019.

Patrick’s contact information:
479-790-4837
patrick@nwamets.org

Kelli Davis is no stranger to breast cancer having been treated for early-stage disease twice by the age of 31, but after metastatic progression to bone in 2014, she was in uncharted territory. Convinced she would soon die, she fell into a deep depression. She checked herself into an emotional rehab facility where she received intensive therapy, structure, and began to share her story. To her amazement, the “failure” she saw as her metastatic progression became a model of living graciously with adversity.

Kelli built a network of metastatic patients, advocates, and researchers. Helping others gave her a sense of purpose and took her mind off of her own diagnosis. She soon had her first scan that showed no evidence of disease (NED) and then discovered METAvivor. Kelli immediately identified with their mission of funding better long term treatment options for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) Kelli envisioned a fundraising gala, a masquerade, a METSquerade ball! She partnered with Patrick and Lisa Quinn who lived nearby in Springdale, AR and the First Annual Northwest Arkansas METSquerade was born.

To date, the northwest Arkansas Metsquerade has raised nearly $900,000 and other Metsquerades have popped up around the country helmed by intrepid MBC patients. In total, Metsquerades have raised $1.4M!

Kelli is outspoken on social media and has been featured in many online publications and speaking engagements. She works as a DoD consumer reviewer, consults with pharmaceutical agencies, and serves as social media director for Metavivor.

Nearly 4 years into her MBC diagnosis, she remains NED and passionately committed to improving the quality and quantity of MBC patient lives. Kelli and her boyfriend Greg reside in Northwest Arkansas and fully believe that through organizations like METAvivor and your generosity, we’ll witness a truly chronic disease designation in our lifetime.

Kelli’s contact information:
(479) 644-5258
kelli@nwamets.org

Krystina Pepper is Co-Chairman at Northwest Arkansas Metsquerade