As 2014 comes to a close, so does our fifth anniversary year. And what an amazing year it has been! A whirlwind to say the least, but we saw the most significant growth and progress in the history of TargetCancer Foundation.
And there’s no time to rest in year six- our next round of grants will be awarded in January, and we already have events on the calendar for the winter and spring of 2015. But in the meantime, here’s a look back at some of our accomplishments from the past year.
RESEARCH
We provided $150,000 in new rare cancer research grant funding, and we’re seeing incredible progress from our grants.
Our fourth year of funded cholangiocarcinoma research led to significant milestones, including new clinical trials and publication in the journal Nature. These are significant milestones and they are rapidly bringing us closer to treatments for this disease.
In esophageal cancer, we initiated a unique and innovative research collaboration uniting experts in genomics and immunotherapies. This collaborative effort has quickly yielded significant progress towards identifying new treatments for this deadly disease that is rising in incidence.
5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Throughout the year we observed 5 year milestones, starting with Paul Poth’s filing of the original Articles of Incorporation in March 2009. A detailed oral history of the founding of TargetCancer Foundation as well as a milestone timeline of the past five years provide insight into how TargetCancer Foundation began, and what we have accomplished in a short time.
EVENTS
2014 was also our biggest year ever for fundraising events, with six events in three states raising over $225,000. People walked in Saugus, learned about us for the first time in Connecticut, celebrated at our 5th anniversary Gala, and more. In all, over 1,000 people turned out this year to support rare cancer research.
IN THE MEANTIME?
We changed our name, refreshed our logo, and launched a ground-up redesign of our website. We expanded our Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board, and received Boston Marathon numbers for the first time.
ONWARD!
We have incredible momentum and we have no plans to slow down- we are excited about potential research breakthroughs, new initiatives, and more events in 2015. We can’t wait to continue our work towards finding treatments for those fighting rare cancers. To 2015, and beyond!