Follow the Money

Sarah has asked me to write a few words on the progress being made in finding a cure for carcinoid cancer. I guess the lowest point of my life was when we were at M. D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas with Payton, and the doctor came in, and what I remember him saying over and over is “no cure, no cure.” His English wasn’t too good and he talked in short sentences. Brent tried very fast to do damage control, reassuring Payton that doctors always say that with cancer, but she knew what the doctor meant. We all did.
 
That is also similar to what happened to Nancy Lindholm, a metastatic carcinoid patient and founder of the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation. She was told she only had a few months to live. She was 29. 

Currently, between 11,000 and 12,000 carcinoid tumors are diagnosed each year in the United States. Nancy Lindholm founded the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation as the only carcinoid and related neuroendocrine tumor focused foundation with the mission of discovering a cure, with a formal Board of Directors, a Board of Scientific Advisors, and a structured research road map used to achieve its mission. CFCF achieves its goals by directing 100% of all individual donations to cutting-edge scientific research. In addition to research, CFCF provides support to patients and their loved ones through its award-winning website (www.caringforcarcinoid.org).

Some of CFCF funded studies include the following:
The Mouse Model Project; the Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Genome Project;  the Carcinoid Cancer Genome Study; the Mary Therese Hartzheim Award for Neuroendocrine Tumor Research; the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation Neuroendocrine Tumor Bioconsortium; and the Origin and Differentiation of a new class of serotonin-expressing enteroendocrine cells.
I urge you to visit the website to gain a better understanding of all the exciting research that is being done.

So that brings me back full circle to one of the happiest memory I have of this long journey.  It was during the first Country Music Marathon and Half-Marathon we had organized after losing Payton. Everyone had finished walking/running and we were just standing around, taking pictures, talking. Sarah looked over at Sam and me and said, “I think this is the first time since Payton passed that I have seen you and Dad actually look happy.” And she was right. I am happy that I can be a part of something that will one day spare families from going through what we have. And we could never have done that without all of you. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

-Penny Farnell (mom)