Fundraising emails
Thank you for supporting my 2016 Marathon Challenge www.rundfmc.org/2016/eric
Here’s a research update to share More than a decade ago, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute began to investigate the failure of a new, targeted therapy for lung cancer patients. In the years that passed, research at Dana-Farber led to a discovery that a population of newly diagnosed lung cancer patients benefited from this form of treatment. As a result, this once promising (yet also believed to be ineffective) form of cancer treatment is now one, in a series of recent drugs targeted at lung cancer that has been approved by the FDA. You should know that I don’t typically spend my free-time reading about targeted cancer drugs and FDA approval. This time, however, I was excited to read more when I learned that Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge runners had an important role in the discovery of the targeted drug I previously mentioned. This new drug, Iressa, specifically targets a mutation in the EGFR gene. But wait there is more The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge is entering its 27th year of supporting the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Cancer Research. 100% of all money directed to Dana-Farber runners goes to the Barr Program. Hundreds of runners (more accurately a few thousand) have helped raise more than $74 million since 1989 to give researchers the opportunity to take risks that otherwise wouldn’t receive federal funding. Given the chance to take these risks Dana-Farber researchers were able to find the specific mutations in the EGFR gene that would, just a few years later, help other Dana-Farber researchers to challenge the results of clinical trials for Iressa. And, thanks to even more funding from Dana-Farber runners, another researcher was able to develop a disruptive method to “turbocharge” new drugs through clinical trials at Dana-Farber. Only a few years ago, this new clinical trial method was used to bring Iressa through clinical trials faster than it had been over a decade ago. The 2016 Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge The last eight years running with the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge has been the easy part for me. Why do you think I am making it number 9 this year? I ask my friends and family to take on the hard part. In a few more months, well before getting to the starting line in Hopkinton, I will pass a lifetime Marathon Challenge fundraising goal of $100,000. All of that went directly to the researchers who have been willing to take risks and think outside the box to find treatments to target the mutations in genes causing cancer. Please help make a gift to my 2016 Marathon Challenge here. As in recent years, I will be running in memory of my dad, Harvey, in honor of my sister, Blair, and patient partner, Alex. Thank you for your generous support!!
