For more information:
Frank R. Scatoni
619-807-1887
frank@ventureliterary.com

"No Kill Date"

Venture Literary Sells Inspirational Narrative of Cancer Survivor and His Unlikely Friendship to Sports Publishing

On January 6, 2006, Greg Dinkin of Venture Literary sold the rights to Steve Rom and Rod Payne’s Centered by a Miracle to Noah Amstadter at Sports Publishing.

Steve Rom, a former sportswriter for the Ann Arbor News and Arizona Daily Sun, had a grapefruit-sized tumor removed from his spine when he was just nine years old. He survived cancer once and was on his way to an illustrious, award-winning sportswriting career when cancer struck again: late in his twenties, Rom was diagnosed with acute leukemia. In the midst of this terrifying ordeal, Rom discovered that miracles come in odd places. The biggest miracle of all, he found, came in the form of a 6-foot-3, 300-pound former professional football player: his close friend, Rod Payne, former captain of the University of Michigan football team and a member of the 2000 Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.

In Centered by a Miracle, Steve Rom tells the remarkable story of how two unlikely friends overcame adversity and carved out a better life for themselves and those around them. Centered by a Miracle combines unforgettable life lessons with an endearing story of survival. It’s a book about hope, about believing that what you have always wanted will some day come true, no matter how hard the struggle.

Steve Rom was recruited by the City of Hope National Cancer Research Center in Duarte, California, where he received a bone marrow transplant in May 2002, to pass on his inspirational story at its annual bone marrow transplant reunions, National Cancer Day celebrations, and ongoing fund-raising dinners across the country. He is directly involved in aiding and inspiring millions of Americans dealing with cancer with his writing contributions to Coping with Cancer magazine (half a million readers) as well as his affiliation with the National Bone Marrow Transplant Link in Dearborn, Michigan, and on the national speaking board of the City of Hope and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

To learn more about Venture Literary, visit: www.ventureliterary.com.
To learn more about Sports Publishing, visit: www.sportspublishingllc.com.
To learn more about Steve Rom and Rod Payne, visit: http://www.play2inspire.com/