The Lucy Fund for Metastatic Cancer Research
About the Fund
Metastasis is the spread of cancer from its original location to vital organs within the body. More than 90% of cancer mortalities are a result of metastasis. Sadly, however, less than 7% of current cancer funding supports research geared towards understanding the mechanisms of metastasis. The Lucy Fund was established in 2010 with a mission to make metastatic cancer chronic, not deadly, empowering communities to support metastatic cancer research.
About Lucy
Lucy was a woman who enjoyed the simple things in life. She loved to read and enjoyed a good steak dinner with a tall glass of red wine. Lucy cherished time with her family, whether it be an intense game of cards, or even long car rides to basketball games.
Lucy received the news that she had Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer on April Fool’s Day of 2008. She was just 42 years old. She was health conscious, received yearly mammograms, yet cancer still found its way into her breast. During the next four years she persevered through life with cancer. Lucy was a present wife and mother, engaged in every aspect of family life. She remained a passionate teacher, who instilled a love for writing into the students who entered her classroom. She established The Lucy Fund and its annual Party4Life fundraising event, even as her illness drained most of her energy.
In August 2012, Lucy lost her courageous battle with cancer. She passed away at the age of 46, yet her legacy remains in numerous ways: her beautiful family; her memoir titled “Aren’t You Dead Yet?”, which chronicles her cancer journey; and the Lucy Fund, which is a vehicle to encourage the support of metastatic cancer research.
Contributions to the Lucy Fund support the metastasis research program of NFCR Fellow, Dr. Danny Welch at the University of Kansas Cancer Center. Dr. Welch and his team have discovered eight of the 35 known metastasis suppressor genes. Further research based on these discoveries may lead to the design of molecules that either prevent metastasis from happening or arrest metastatic tumors in a dormant state.
