GivingGuide2019

SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2019 | Special Advertising Section 1 R 16 “When I felt the lump on my neck, I’d been married just a year. It was stage 4 cancer and too advanced for surgery,” says Washington resident Carla S. “Fortunately, Fred Hutch researchers were working on a new treatment. I was able to enroll in a clinical trial,” she says. “Thirty days later, the [lump] was gone. When we heard the news, my husband cried, and so did I. We’d been given a second chance.” Carla, like millions of other people, is alive today because of the breakthrough research, scientific discoveries and clinical trials happening at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. At Fred Hutch, pioneering researchers are working to eliminate cancer and related diseases. For more than 40 years, they have pushed the limits of scientific discovery and established a record of unparalleled excellence. Funds raised through GiveBIG, matched by a generous supporter, will help make this work possible. Donations will speed up research so that critical new treatments can get to patients faster, jump-start projects up to six times faster than research funded by federal grants alone, and help attract millions more in government and foundation dollars. All that adds up to groundbreaking research, better and safer treatments — and lives saved. That’s a big deal. And it’s why cancer research is both an inspiring profession and a personal mission for so many scientists at Fred Hutch. “We want to take on interesting and important questions in a daring way,” explains Dr. Andrew Hsieh, a Hutch researcher who focuses on cancers that are understudied or hard to treat. “And we have to be daring because people are losing their lives.” Today, an estimated one in three women and one in two men in the United States will face cancer in their lifetimes. Yet, because of research, more people are also surviving cancer — and getting back to their lives and goals. Dr. Kristin Anderson is one of those people. At 28, midway through her graduate school studies in immunology, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After treatment, “I realized that other scientists spent countless late nights and long weekends working to discover the drugs that saved my life, and I wanted to pay it forward,” she says. “After graduate school, I decided to put my experience and expertise to good use and focus my research on immunotherapy.” Kristin is now a postdoctoral research fellow at Fred Hutch. She is developing leading-edge therapies that harness and adapt the body’s own tumor-fighting cells, called T cells, and put them to work to stop cancers. Today, with expertise from Kristin, Andrew, and thousands of other researchers and staff, Fred Hutch has set a bold goal. “We’ve made enormous progress in treating cancer patients and improving their quality of life, but our goal is to cure cancer,” says Dr. Gary Gilliland, Fred Hutch president and director. “For the first time, for me at least, I can see it coming across a broad spectrum of human cancers. The place where that will happen — the leading edge for that — is Fred Hutch.” Another key ingredient? Seattle’s unique community. Today, companies from across tech, life sciences and data science, many of them right here in Seattle, are contributing critical expertise to the cause of ending cancer. Together with Seattle’s philanthropic community, Fred Hutch and leaders throughout our region are throwing open the door to exponential progress, new approaches — and cures. Fred Hutch and Seattle’s unique community join forces to end cancer By guest author, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center PROVIDED BY FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER Seattle. Fred Hutch. And GiveBIG. Donations to Fred Hutch support patients like Carla, fuel breakthrough research, and support families and communities in Seattle and around the world. More information is available at fredhutch.org. Kristin Anderson is an immunotherapy researcher at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. (Robert Hood photo)