Personal Fundraiser

Greetings From Crater Lake National Park - The Magnificent Caldera Left By the Volcano Mount Mazama!

Volcanoes shatter landscapes in an instant. It can take years to calm the confusion of the chaos and heal the devasting wounds. One thing is for certain - the land will never be the same.

A cancer diagnosis is like a volcano - shattering lives in an instant. Yet, the progress of medical treatments helps calm that chaos and work towards healing the wounds of body and spirit. Lives will never be the same, but that change can still radiate beauty - just like the caldera of Crater Lake.

It is hard to believe it was 25 years ago that I heard those life-shaking words "You have cancer." It took a while to calm the chaos and work through the treatment. My body carries lifelong reminders of the action taken to conquer the foe, but conquer the foe we did. Treatment gave me the beautiful landscape of the many quality years I have lived since then. 

Medical treatments have come a long way, but there is still more to do. I would like to invite you to join me in celebrating my 25 cancer-free years by supporting Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.  My goal is to raise $2,500 or $100 for each year I have lived by December 7, the day of my diagnosis. It only takes 50 people donating $50 to get there, but any amount will move the goal forward.

Cancer comes in all shapes and sizes. It seems to touch all of us in some way at some time in our life. My cancer journey was with breast cancer, but I have many friends who have recently received those life-shaking calls for other forms of the disease. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is on the forefront of finding treatments and cures for all types of cancer and related diseases. 

Did you know...

Bone marrow transplantation, which has helped more than 1 million people, was pioneered by Dr. E. Donnall Thomas at Fred Hutch. His insight earned him a Nobel Prize and provided the first example of the human immune system’s power to fight cancer. 

Drs. Phil Greenberg and Stanley Riddell are continuing Don’s legacy, leading the way in the game-changing field of immunotherapy. They are perfecting an approach that could render chemotherapy and radiation obsolete, making cancer treatment less grueling.

Dr. Denise Galloway’s research paved the way for a groundbreaking vaccine that prevents human papillomavirus, or HPV — a common infection that can cause cervical and head and neck cancers. A vaccine for some cancers? Yes. It started at Fred Hutch.

Today, Hutch scientists are partnering with experts in technology and data science to put data to work: turning patterns and trends into insights to help us prevent cancer, personalize treatment, and find new ways to stop this disease.

We will never stop volcanoes from erupting, but maybe someday we can stop lives from being shattered by the devastaion of cancer. It happens one discovery at a time! Let's keep the progress going!

Thank you for your support!

May health and happiness be yours,

Krista