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WHY WE'RE FUNDRAISING WITH THE JIMMY FUND WALK TO FIGHT CANCER
Dr. Kadoch has been awarded a grant from President Biden for MOST ESSENTIAL cancer research today . She and her lab have received countless other highest recognition awards and grants as well. See below
World changing new cancer cures are coming into this world right now directly due to THIS REVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH
50% of ALL cancers worldwide are directly impacted by THIS research
Please pass this along to anyone who can contribute and support
Please join this Call To Action TODAY
By Vanessa Johansson
I was diagnosed with the rare, highly aggressive cancer known as synovial sarcoma in 2015 at the young age of 43. Nearly four years later, the cancer spread to both of my lungs, seeding “innumerable tumors,” and giving me a diagnosis of stage IV inoperable metastatic cancer. Quite the shocking, devastating news to hear at this stage in my life.
Synovial sarcoma (SS) is an “Orphan Status” cancer. In oncology vernacular, this simply equates to, “no money, and no research.” Not enough cases for a major investment by researchers or big pharma. This is especially heart- rending due to the reality that a large percentage of sarcoma patients are children. Sarcoma comprises about 20% of all childhood cancers, and only one percent of all adult cancers. Notably, there are hundreds of molecularly-distinct subtypes of sarcoma, making the already rare “orphan” disease diagnoses for these patients even more “orphan” and isolating. While the 12,000 people per year in the United States who are diagnosed with sarcoma may sound significant, this number, compared to the hundreds of thousands of patients diagnosed with the more common lung, breast, and prostate cancers is incredibly small.
The scant research available for patients and doctors in the sarcoma realm is dismal at best. Since my initial diagnosis, I have consulted and worked with upwards of 50 doctors across medical specialties. From medical oncology, to surgery, to radiation oncology, pulmonology, immunotherapy, ablation specialists, and many others. Despite their best efforts, compassion, and state-of-the-art care, not one of them were in a position to offer any meaningful help or hope for me, because there are simply no truly effective therapies for synovial sarcoma available. I have thus had to make critical, discerning and risky decisions in regards to my treatment, often with highly limited if any scientific or medical basis. You name the treatment, I have tried it—honestly, too many forms of treatment, diagnostic screening, and dietary regimens to begin to list. All this to say that I am extremely well-versed and intimately familiar with the plethora of off-target, high side-effect profile treatments that are offered and available for cancers in general, and specifically, for aggressive cancers such as SS.
After crusading heavily for a healthier world, earning a degree in nutrition, publishing articles on health and wellness, traveling the world to study directly with indigenous plant healers, shamans, and various esteemed educators in the healing field; and for 17 years, building and growing my very own successful “green” manufacturing laboratory in the field of personal care products (www.RainShadowLabs.com), I found myself in what I refer to as “Cancer School.” How I have navigated from the initial diagnosis up to the present is another story for another time. It is relevant for me to mention that I am a prolific health advocate as well as an adept researcher, and my desire to live and be cured is formidable. I was raised by two very talented and accomplished medical professionals. My father’s picture is even in the medical Encyclopedia Britannica. To live with and face on a daily basis a medical condition that is so mysterious, ferocious, and ruthless, has been stunning and humbling, to say the very least. Which leads me to the only truly interesting thing about my journey, as far as anyone else is concerned:
Why did I create and seed this fund?
How does the unique, world-changing, extraordinary science I am about to describe apply to you?
As it is, one in two people currently have or will have cancer. As difficult as it is to imagine, this percentage will continue to increase over time. Which means you or your most beloved human will at some point receive a cancer diagnosis. So again, how does an orphan status cancer such as SS relate to you?
Allow me to introduce Dr. Cigall Kadoch. The remarkable and visionary woman who, as a young graduate student at Stanford University made a groundbreaking scientific discovery that was dubbed “the shot heard around the cancer world”. Not only in a rare, “orphan” cancer, but in the rare, “orphan” cancer that I have: synovial sarcoma. Further yet, this mechanism she discovered propelled her and her now full-fledged research team to uncover the molecular basis as well as new therapeutic strategies for over 50% of all human cancers, both pediatric and adult. She discovered an overlooked, crucial link between defects in a specific protein complex buried in the nucleus of each of our trillions of cells and over 50% of human cancers, including 100% of synovial sarcoma, and 100% of several other rare, orphan sarcomas. Unimaginable. Her Harvard research team was awarded one of only four grants through President Biden’s esteemed Cancer Moonshot Program for most promising cancer research in the most needed of areas. She has received numerous awards and accolades celebrating her pioneering discoveries and work. She received the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research Award for Outstanding Achievement in Basic Cancer Research, the 2019 AAAS Martin and Rose Wachtel Cancer Research Prize, the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award, among many, many others. New medicines that hold a very promising potential cure for synovial sarcoma (clinical trial begins first half of 2021), and ultimately many other cancers, have now been developed on the basis of her transformative work. The foundational science of this new drug is based on a revolutionary treatment approach to cancer that treats the disease at “ground zero.” Meaning we are hitting the actual target that is the culprit in driving the cancer rather than downstream consequences of the primary molecular event causing the cancer. This groundbreaking science marks the dawning of a new era of medicine that has the potential to change the lives of countless people with currently incurable cancers and other serious diseases.
The scale and impact of Dr. Kadoch’s research is profound. Rather than following a traditional academic path of industry collaborations, Dr. Kadoch trail-blazed and founded her own biotech company, Foghorn Therapeutics. This was due in large part to her early recognition that without an effort spearheaded and directed by her, orphan cancer research would be shelved in favor of only targeting the more common cancers. She recognized and her research has taught us that indeed such crucial scientific discoveries can also be used in more common cancers. Dr. Kadoch perseveres in her committed quest to find the cure for SS and other orphan cancers; and in so doing is moving the needle of progress in a huge way for ALL CANCERS!
In proud support of this priceless undertaking, I invite you to help us to change the story of cancer on this planet. In an exceptionally real and measurable way. Every donation made to this discretionary fund for the Kadoch Lab at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is tax deductible. It goes directly to Dr. Cigall Kadoch and her talented team to further her world-changing research. Please see links below to learn more about this amazing woman and her revolutionary research and developments in the field of oncology. Dr. Kadoch will gladly present to you or your group of interested parties regarding her cutting-edge research and its impact on cancer and disease globally.
Some relevant links:
Profile by The Broad Institute
https://www.broadinstitute.org/one-lab%E2%80%99s-deep-exploration-key-cellular-machine-reveals-new-disease-mechanisms-and-therapeutic
Profile by The Scientist
Forbes Spotlight
Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2018/03/13/32-year-old-professor-raises-50-million-to-make-drugs-to-control-genes/?sh=a4669f74fd18
The Kadoch Lab (website)
Foghorn Therapeutics Website
http://foghorntx.com/
https://foghorntx.com
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