Donations
The remarkable funds raised for Running for Rachel are being used to find new treatments for duodenal and pancreatic cancer.
Duodenal cancer is a rare disease with no good treatment options available. It frequently remains asymptomatic for a long time, and like in Rachel, presents with advanced stages. Chemotherapy rarely shrinks these tumors, and the effectiveness of radiation therapy is limited because of side effects to adjacent organs. Duodenal cancer, because of its rarity, is one of the most understudied cancers.
Donations of Running for Rachel will be used for research which aims to close this gap and find new treatments for duodenal, as well as pancreatic cancer. From patients with duodenal and pancreatic cancer who are operated on as part of their participation in clinical research at NIH / Cancer for Cancer Research (CCR) cancer tissue will be harvested and cancer stem cells from these patients' tumors (like Rachel's) will be grown in culture. Cancer stem cells in patients' tumors are responsible for the fast growth, resistance to chemotherapy, and spread of cancers, and novel treatments which target these cancer stem cells have a greater promise to be successful in patients. The duodenal and pancreas cancer stem cells will then be exposed to a large number of already established and, more importantly, new cancer drugs (drug screening). Drugs which most effectively kill duodenal and pancreas cancer stem cells will be followed up for further study to understand how they work in these tumors and if they can also effectively treat tumors grown in mice. The most promising will be advanced into a clinical trial to be tested as a novel treatment in a select number of carefully monitored patients with duodenal or pancreas cancer.
Duodenal cancer is a rare disease with no good treatment options available. It frequently remains asymptomatic for a long time, and like in Rachel, presents with advanced stages. Chemotherapy rarely shrinks these tumors, and the effectiveness of radiation therapy is limited because of side effects to adjacent organs. Duodenal cancer, because of its rarity, is one of the most understudied cancers.
Donations of Running for Rachel will be used for research which aims to close this gap and find new treatments for duodenal, as well as pancreatic cancer. From patients with duodenal and pancreatic cancer who are operated on as part of their participation in clinical research at NIH / Cancer for Cancer Research (CCR) cancer tissue will be harvested and cancer stem cells from these patients' tumors (like Rachel's) will be grown in culture. Cancer stem cells in patients' tumors are responsible for the fast growth, resistance to chemotherapy, and spread of cancers, and novel treatments which target these cancer stem cells have a greater promise to be successful in patients. The duodenal and pancreas cancer stem cells will then be exposed to a large number of already established and, more importantly, new cancer drugs (drug screening). Drugs which most effectively kill duodenal and pancreas cancer stem cells will be followed up for further study to understand how they work in these tumors and if they can also effectively treat tumors grown in mice. The most promising will be advanced into a clinical trial to be tested as a novel treatment in a select number of carefully monitored patients with duodenal or pancreas cancer.
Each donation will receive a receipt with tax ID number for tax purposes. If you prefer to write a check, please make it payable to: Running For Rachel
And mail checks to:
Running For Rachel
5101 Mountain Ridge Lane
Harrisburg, PA 17112
Thank you for your kind and generous donation.
- The Guss Family
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