I'm running for dad and raising funds for bile duct cancer research at Dana-Farber.
Dad loved the Cape. It was his great escape. We drove from Michigan to Hyannis Port every summer for our family vacations. Spectating my cross-country and track races, on the other hand, were probably not his first love. But that didn’t prevent him from attending them all. If there was one race he would be excited to attend, it would be the Falmouth Road Race. This year, our team will be taking on this infamous 7-mile course along Cape Cod’s scenic coastline while raising critical funds for bile duct cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in memory of dad. Our team includes my husband Jarod, my sister-in-law Lizzie, and me.
Wish us luck on August 18, as we take on the ASICS Falmouth Road Race!
About Dad
aka Jim, Jamie, Curly
To have known Jim was a delight, to call him a friend was a blessing, to call him your dad was an invaluable gift. Jim lit up the room with his charisma and wit. He had a burgeoning confidence about him that always made his presence known. His humor coupled with his humility and loyalty made him the kind of friend you wanted at any occasion. His philosophical perspective about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness made him the kind of person from whom you sought life advice.
Jim is fondly remembered by all who knew him. Among his childhood friends, he is remembered by stories of mischief and nostalgia. Decades after graduating from University of New Hampshire, he was still fondly remembered across campus as “Curly” - the life of the party (his brother, niece, and son can attest to this). Among his nieces and nephews, he was the coveted godparent. To the parents of his children’s best friends, he remains the loveable East Coast guy who simply cannot be replaced – as a friend, a coach, a happy hour companion, a holiday confidant. To his family, he was and is everything.
Research for bile duct cancer was almost non-existent when Jim was first diagnosed in 2000 and thus the treatment options were limited to different combinations of chemotherapy and surgery. Unfortunately, it came back stronger than before in 2007, and not much progress had been made in the development of better therapies. Throughout his journey, he consulted University of Michigan Medicine, the Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson, and of course, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
About Dana-Farber’s Bile Duct Cancer Research
Thanks to philanthropic support, Dana-Farber has developed a robust research program focused on biliary cancer – cancer of the bile ducts and gallbladder – that has paved the way for new treatments for this otherwise ignored patient population. Biliary cancer impacts approximately 19,000 people in the U.S. annually. Between 2017 and 2020, Dana-Farber researchers profiled the genomic mutations that drive uncontrolled growth of biliary tumors. Their results led to the discovery of several new mutations, specifically in the IDH1 gene and the FGFR2 protein, that were found to be targetable with therapies. They went on to design clinical trials testing these new targeted thearpies which led to the first FDA approvals of new treatments for biliary cancer in more than 30 years, including Pemigatinib (FGFR2 inhibitor) in 2020, Infigratinib (FGFR2 inhibitor) in 2021, and Ivosidenib (IDH1 inhibitor) in 2021.
Today, Dr. Sri Raghavan is collaborating with Dr. James Cleary to test a combination of immunotherapy – treatments that harness the immune system to attack cancer – to develop a better drug cocktail for patients with biliary cancer. Dr. Cleary is running a clinical trial where eligible patients are treated with a targeted therapy and two immunotherapies. The tumors of consenting patients are biopsied, and samples are sent to the lab of Dr. Sri Raghavan. Dr. Raghavan is developing models grown from human cancer tissue called organoids. Together with their collaborators, the team is analyzing how this novel drug cocktail fights cancer with the goal to gain insights not only about the efficacy of these drugs but also about the biological makeup of these cancers to unveil new therapeutic strategies.
In short, your support is helping to study the biological makeup of bile duct cancers and develop new and improved treatments. Thank you for your support!
