You may know a lot about 24 Foundation, or you may just know it as a 24 hour cycling event that you volunteer at every year, that you donate to a friend who participates, or you may have been asked to join from a family member or friend. There are many ways folks become involved with our organization, but no matter how you got here, we want to take the time to send a huge THANK YOU your way!
Whether you are a rider, volunteer or donor, your involvement with 24 Foundation has extended well beyond our 24-hour event. 24 Foundation’s mission is “to inspire communities to be active in the fight against cancer.” As part of of the 24 Foundation community, you truly help bring our mission to life for so many people who are affected by cancer locally and nationally.
It’s that time of year – granting season! 24 Foundation is ending 2015 sending funds to local and national cancer charities we are proud to support. Funds raised support survivorship and patient navigation programs helping survivors and their families who are going through their cancer journey RIGHT NOW.
Want to know what your contribution did this year?
Patient Navigation
Nurse Navigators are the champions of patient care tasked with the role of answering questions, addressing concerns and assisting patients and family members with finding appropriate resources.
24 Foundation funding has supported an annual Nurse Navigator Academy designed to enhance training of Levine Cancer Institute navigators and standardize their activities. This has helped LCI build one of the largest patient navigator programs in the country.
Through our grant to the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, 24 Foundation supports patient navigation and survivorship programs through five area hospitals in the Baltimore/DC area. 24 Foundation’s grant to the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults allows patient navigators to meet with 500 new young adult patients and their families in 2015. You provided 200 chemo care bags to patients, which include items such as blankets, back scratchers and puzzle books to make long hours at the hospital a little easier for patients. You helped 130 young adult patients preserve their fertility. You helped 100 patients get to doctor’s appointments during and after treatment.
Nationally, the LIVESTRONG Foundation provides patient navigation services to cancer survivors and their families, no matter where they are located. Services 24 Foundation support include fertility preservation, insurance and financial assistance, psycho-social support and clinical trials, amongst others.
Survivorship and Wellness Programs
A 12-week cancer wellness program, offered in collaboration with Charlotte area YMCAs, designed to assist manage the physical side effects of cancer treatment for survivors during both the treatment and recovery phases.
Additional programs offered to Levine Cancer Institute patients with 24 Foundation grant money includes yoga, acupuncture, massage therapy, patient support groups and psychological counseling, among others.
Over 100 survivors with 15 different types of cancer (from colon cancer to pancreatic, lung, ovarian, breast and melanoma) were able to attend a multi-day Wind River Cancer Wellness Retreat or a survivor get away night at no cost.
Innovative Research through the Keep Pounding Fund
24 Foundation funded a highly specialized nursing position that led to the development of LCI’s Phase I Clinical Trials Unit. Our grant also provides support for the Patient Side Effects Reporting project, which offers IPads to patients enrolled in early-stage clinical trials to track side effects of treatment using an app specially developed at Levine Cancer Institute.
At the IU Simon Cancer Center, thirty research physicians and scientist melded their expertise to advance prevention, early detection, screening and drug development to stop the disease of pancreatic cancer that takes 40,000 lives annually. 24 Foundation funds have contributed to the following projects at the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center that will help patients navigate their way through this disease and ultimately still live their lives:
-Dr. Murray Korc, the Myles Brand Professor of Cancer Research, helped design a tool to unmask pancreatic cancer early. He and collaborators are working on a test capable of detecting faint traces of biomarker present in pancreatic cancer. This test will be easier for patients to get and less invasive than a biopsy. It’s will also be cheaper and more widely available.
– Dr. C. Max Schmidt, a surgeon-scientist has developed a 99 percent accurate text for the growth factor of pancreatic cysts to determine whether the cysts are pre-malignant. This will spare patients repeated visits, follow-up test and, potentially, surgery.
– Dr. Mark Kelley, associate director of basic research at the IU Sion Cancer Center with collaborators has submitted paperwork to start a safety and dosing trial with pancreatic cancer patients for an oral tablet. The aim is to make cancer more susceptible to treatment, bolstering patients’ cancer to fight it off.
You support our riders and our organization, and we are so grateful for you. On behalf of our riders, staff and board, we thank you for contributing to 24 Foundation this year.
Happy Holidays from 24 Foundation!