About 120 of Steve Kelly’s closest friends honored his legacy March 24 at the 3rd Annual Kelly’s Heroes St. Patrick’s Day Party in East Windsor, N.J., raising $8,000 to support cancer research.

The money will support patient clinical trials and research into early detection and improved treatments at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, where Steve Kelly was a patient and a clinical trial hero.

“Steve would be humbled to know what he has inspired,” said his wife Kerry McKean Kelly. “Pancreatic cancer has a five-year survival rate of just 9 percent and is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer death by 2020. The standard of care for pancreatic cancer just isn’t good enough. We need to do better, we need to demand better, and we can’t do it without you.”

The fund raiser carries on a Steve Kelly tradition, whose annual St. Patrick’s Day parties featured Irish music and dancing, a golf contest and March Madness on TV for more than 20 years. Joining the festivities this year were dancers from the Denogla-Ardmore School of Irish Dance and the band Ballycastle.

A portion of the proceeds will also provide two $500 scholarships for graduating seniors at Hightstown High School and Notre Dame High School who plan to pursue nursing or other healthcare studies. Visit the Photos page to view a photo gallery of this year’s event.