How your dollars are “Being the Difference”

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Be the Difference Foundation receives most of its funding from individual donors, foundations, corporations, partnerships and sponsorships at our fundraising events. Our signature fundraising event is Wheel to Survive.  Be The Difference Foundation is committed to funding initiatives that help women battling ovarian cancer and providing research dollars for a cure. To date, these initiatives include:

• Innovative research
• Increasing the availability of clinical trials
• Medical support services including personalized tumor profiling and treatment recommendations
• Travel cost assistance to clinical trials

With guidance from our Medical Advisory Board we have financially support programs and research at the institutions listed below.

Donations are accepted online by clicking here.

Thank YOU for making this possible.

The Clearity Foundation

The Clearity Foundation seeks to help improve treatment decisions in recurrent and progressive ovarian cancer patients through molecular profiling. This tumor profiling provides the patient with valuable information to determine the most appropriate treatment or clinical trial for the patient once they have recurred. Services are provided at no cost to the patient.

We believe strongly in Clearity’s goal to help women with recurrent ovarian cancer live longer, healthier lives with this individualized approach to therapy selection. We are proud to partner with their efforts to bring hope and personalized medicine to women needing it today.

Mary Crowley Cancer Research

The mission of Mary Crowley Cancer Research Centers is to expand treatment options for all cancer patients through investigational vaccine, gene and cellular therapies.

At Mary Crowley Cancer Research Centers, there is a belief that a paradigm shift is occurring in cancer care in which personalized molecular medicine will eventually transform the way patients are treated. While their ultimate goal is to cure their patients’ cancer, the ongoing objective is to provide novel agents in innovative ways; thereby, transforming cancer into a manageable condition for patients while maintaining their quality of life. They strive to apply these investigational and innovative therapies early in the course of a patient’s disease where its effect can be optimized and prevent disease recurrence.

Mary Crowley has conducted nine clinical trials for ovarian cancer since 2012 with an additional trial in development that targets MIF macrophage-migration inhibitory factor. Support from Be the Difference enables Mary Crowley to expedite the targeted molecular therapy program specifically designed for ovarian cancer. According to Dr. John Nemunaitis, Mary Crowley Executive Medical Director, “By opening new and more clinical trial options for patients in 2016, Be The Difference Foundation has brought our vision one BIG step forward in ovarian cancer management.”

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Moon Shots Program

Be The Difference is proud to be able to support ovarian cancer research that is being done under MD Anderson’s Moon Shots program. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s moon exploration challenge to America half a century ago, this program – MD Anderson’s boldest to date – seeks to dramatically reduce the mortality of eight cancers initially and eventually apply its unique research model to defeating all cancer. Ovarian cancer is part of a joint Breast and Ovarian Cancers Moon Shot focusing on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) – two cancers uniquely joined by similarities on a genetic level. This initiative promises to significantly reduce the mortality rate and morbidity associated with HGSOC and implement individualized, stratified treatment approaches based on the vast amounts of data available today and enormous technological advancements.

The goals of the MD Anderson Team are:

• Deployment of comprehensive genetic testing and intervention for HGSOC patients
• Development, refinement and implementation of approaches to tailor surgical intervention
• Molecular marker-driven treatment of primary metastatic and recurrent disease
• Novel consolidation treatment paradigms
• Development of an effective strategy for early detection
• Development of programs to improve patients’ quality of life

University of Pennsylvania – Dr. Janos Tanyi, MD, PHD

The Ovarian Cancer Research Center (OCRC) at the University of Pennsylvania focuses its efforts on developing new therapies which boost the body’s own ability to fight cancer. Dr. Janos Tanyi is the principal investigator of the immune therapy trials at Penn and their research focuses on comparing ovarian cancers that have T-cells to cases of ovarian cancer without T-cells. The hypothesis is that there are specific genetic abnormalities that result in some ovarian cancers being more readily recognized and attacked by the patient’s own immune system. Patients with tumors of this type might be more likely to benefit from anti-tumor vaccination.   The group is also studying additional steps to try to increase the effectiveness of their anti-tumor vaccine.

Penn has patients in clinical trials based on this research.  They are using vaccines along with other treatment and the results look promising.  We are proud to be able to fund this important research and support the clinical trials that are being used to benefit ovarian cancer patients today.

NYU Langone Medical Center – Pearlmutter Cancer Center

The Perlmutter Cancer Center’s Gynecologic Oncology Research Group works to understand and treat gynecologic cancers. Gynecologic cancers include tumors that arise in the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, peritoneum, uterus, cervix, vagina, and vulva of women. The aim of our research is to gain a better understanding of the cancers of the female reproductive system in order to prevent and treat them.

The group accomplishes this through basic laboratory research and translational clinical trials that bring the knowledge gained in the laboratory into the clinical setting to improve the care of our patients. We give our patients access to cutting edge clinical trials through our experienced and nationally prominent multidisciplinary team.

We are proud to fund this research as the discovery will lead to improved treatment options and potentially cures for more women battling ovarian cancer today.

Lazarex Cancer Foundation

Lazarex Cancer Foundation supports end stage cancer patients and the cancer community by providing assistance with costs for clinical trial participation, navigation through clinical trial options, and community outreach and education.

Lazarex is unique in its mission as we focus directly on the needs of end stage cancer patients seeking life through clinical trials. We remove the barriers to participation by addressing informational concerns and financial roadblocks and provide “companion support” allowing patients to travel with a loved one as they go to clinical trial sites for treatment. These efforts allow a patient to concentrate on their health and make decisions based on what is truly best for them rather than deliberating over their financial resources.

Be the Difference Foundation is proud to provide much needed resources for women with ovarian cancer who have run out of treatment options, ensuring assistance accessing breakthrough treatments through FDA clinical trial participation.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC)

The Gynecology Research Laboratory at MSKCC is focused on investigating the genomic basis of ovarian and uterine cancers for the purpose of improving prevention and control of these diseases. MSKCC is particularly interested in advancing opportunities for individualized therapy for women with gynecologic cancer through genomic approaches.

Recent clinical trials have discovered that ovarian cancer patients with inherited mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 are uniquely sensitive to a category of drugs called PARP inhibitors.  MSKCC is working on laboratory studies to identify other related genomic alterations that will result in sensitivity to PARP inhibitors so that the therapeutic benefit of these agents can be expanded to patients without BRCA mutations as well.