JOIN THE MOVEMENT
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Help the FIERCE SISTERS
FIGHT CANCER at the LA Marathon
Charity Challenge
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Walk, run, or donate to the cause!
LA Marathon | Sunday, March 17, 2024
Team Fierce Sisters Fight Cancer was the top fundraiser in the LA Half Marathon Charity Challenge of 2023!
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Thanks to your hard work and dedication, we raised over $120,000 for Team Fierce Sisters Fight Cancer! Let's take a moment to celebrate this achievement.
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We are starting to raise funds for 2024.
EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS!
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Click the DONATE button to make a TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
We have 50 spots available for the next Marathon. To secure your spot, please sign up today. Registration costs $135. When we receive confirmation of registration, we will send you the links to set up your fundraising pages. If you need help setting up your web page, please let us know. Please note that the half-marathon is already sold out and we will not be able to get additional spots. So, first come, first served.
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Please email: RDicamillo@mednet.ucla.edu if you have any questions.
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ABOUT
THE FIERCE SISTERS
The journey started the day Elisabeth received a Stage IVb Ovarian Cancer diagnosis. From symptom to advanced high-grade serous carcinoma, it was a 22 terrifying days. Soon after, both Elisabeth and her sister Susan were identified as BRCA1 mutation carriers. Susan underwent preventive surgeries only to discover that she, too had the beginnings of this disease. It is hard to express the despair and powerlessness one feels to learn that there is no "cure" for ovarian cancer. Only 17% of advanced-stage patients are still alive by year five, and of those patients who do survive, there is a 90-95% recurrence rate. Also, BRCA1 carriers have a very high lifetime risk for breast and ovarian cancer, and there is no early detection test.
Their despair turned to hope when they met Dr. Gottfried E. Konecny, an internationally recognized leader in ovarian cancer research, a physician-scientist, and a professor of medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Given his extensive research, Dr. Konecny put Elisabeth on a life-saving clinical trial of PARP-Inhibitors, a new targeted drug treatment known to not only extend the life of advanced ovarian cancer patients. It also holds the promise of treating ovarian cancer for the first time as a chronic disease rather than as a death sentence!
Our goal is to support Dr. Konecny's vital research at the UCLA Translational Oncology Lab in developing a method for early detection and to support his research into PARP-Inhibitors and other novel targeted treatment therapies.
Our inaugural campaign was for the LA Half Marathon on November 7, 2021, and we exceeded our modest goal and raised over $110,000 thanks to an amazing community of friends and family. So the work continues! Let us walk together to raise funds for the lives of all our sisters, mothers, daughters, grandmothers, aunts, and girlfriends! Please DONATE to "FIERCE SISTERS FIGHT CANCER" for the LA Half Marathon on March 19, 2023!
Much Love and deepest gratitude from Elisabeth and Susan for all your support!
ABOUT
THE RESEARCH
Early detection of ovarian cancer results in dramatically better outcomes for patients and is thus a major research focus of Dr. Gottfried Konecny, Professor of Medicine and OB/GYN at UCLA.
With early detection, the 5-year survival rate is 92% while late stage detection in ovarian cancer has a survival rate of just 29%. Unfortunately, today about 60% of ovarian cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage.
In his research towards developing better systems for early detection, Dr. Konecny is focusing on DNA that is circulating in the blood stream and, more specifically, how that DNA “fragments” when a patient has ovarian cancer.
With a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary effort involving cancer genomics, biostatistics, computational biology, oncology, pathology as well as national and international collaborators, Dr. Konecny has designed a clinical trial that will test the blood of a patient diagnosed with ovarian cancer, before any treatments have been administered (such as chemotherapy or radiation). Once the patient has received treatments and is, hopefully, without ovarian cancer the patient’s blood will be tested again – all towards the hypothesis that the fragmentation in the blood has tell-tales signs when a patient has ovarian cancer.
Developing a non-invasive protocol for early detection is tremendously important and exciting. Philanthropy plays a vital role in advancing such far-reaching, paradigm-changing research.
The Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation (JCCF) was founded in 1945 by a group of volunteers dedicated to cancer research at UCLA. Their idea, using funds raised from private sources to invest in the work of promising young cancer researchers, resulted in the Seed Grant Program, which has helped the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) break new ground in the quest to defeat cancer.
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Although seed grants remain an important part of JCCF's mission, the Foundation today also supports numerous high-priority, multi-disciplinary cancer research efforts focused on rapidly translating discoveries made in the laboratory into improved screening, treatment and prevention.
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As the single most important vehicle for raising private funds for cancer research at UCLA, JCCF:
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Provides funds to help JCCC researchers pursue promising new projects and enhance established programs in areas ranging from cancer survivorship and clinical research to the development of targeted therapies
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Has a Board of Directors comprised of respected business and community leaders who are dedicated to raising money through major and planned gifts, annual and tribute gifts, and special events and community activities
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Is a fully licensed 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation that exists for the express purpose of raising and distributing funds to support leading-edge cancer research at JCCC
JCCF spends 90 percent of total donations directly on cancer research and cancer-related programs. The remaining 10 percent goes toward administrative and fundraising expenses. Donors to JCCF can feel confident their gifts benefit the research that has consistently made JCCC a leader in its field.
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For news on our activities and research, sign up to receive JCCF e-mail and become a fan of UCLA Fights Cancer on Facebook.
JOIN US FOR THE
LA MARATHON
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Run or walk the Half-Marathon Charity Challenge!
The Charity Half Marathon is a half marathon within the Los Angeles Marathon where everyone participating is giving back! It is a unique event that has the intimate feel of a close-knit nonprofit community while enjoying the high energy and support of one of the largest marathons in the country.
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Fierce Sisters Fight Cancer is raising money for the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation. The money you raise or donate is not only tax-deductible, but it goes directly to Dr. Gottfried Konecny and Dr. Dennis Slamon's UCLA Translational Lab to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Program at UCLA JCCF. There are limited registrations available for this event available only to those who fundraise for an official Marathon Nonprofit Charity Partner
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Questions about the LA Marathon Charity Challenge?
Please email: RDicamillo@mednet.ucla.edu
Can’t participate, but still want to support the Fierce Sisters?
Start your own online fundraiser! Go to the Sisters' page and
click the "Start Fundraising" button!
