The Dana-Farber Campaign: Join us to Defy Cancer

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund recently announced The Dana-Farber Campaign, an ambitious, multi-year effort to prevent, treat, and Defy Cancer. The Dana-Farber Campaign endeavors to raise $2 billion to accelerate our success through revolutionary science, extraordinary care, and exceptional expertise—saving more lives than ever before.

“We are relentlessly determined to take what we are learning, build on it, and defeat this disease,” says Laurie H. Glimcher, president and CEO of Dana-Farber. “Patients everywhere are depending on us, and The Dana-Farber Campaign will provide the resources we need to better prevent and treat cancer, resulting in more lives saved, more dreams realized.”

The Dana-Farber Campaign was announced on May 17, 2021 through a virtual celebration with more than 1,000 attendees, featuring Journalist and Author Tom Brokaw and Dr. Glimcher, inspiring patients and doctors, and messages from special guests, including actress Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fund Captain and Boston Red Sox Pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey, and others.

With your support of The Dana-Farber Campaign, we will:

• Pursue innovative early stage research
• Speed new drugs into clinical trials
• Expand access to care and reduce cancer disparities
• Support special programs that address the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of patients and their families
• Fuel the best and brightest doctors and researchers in cancer medicine
• And much more

These goals will advance Dana-Farber’s mission—with the help of our community. Since the Jimmy Fund was founded in 1948, when thousands of people rallied together with donations to support “Jimmy,” a young boy with lymphoma, the power of the Dana-Farber and Jimmy Fund community has changed lives. That community will be a vital part of The Dana-Farber Campaign, giving even more “Jimmys,” like Camden, a hopeful future. Camden, a born athlete, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, at just 14. He was referred to Dana-Farber, where he received chemotherapy and a rotationplasty, a partial leg amputation that also inverts the ankle into a new joint. Just 18 months after his original diagnosis, Camden was cancer-free—and back on the football field—thanks to Dana-Farber.

Camden knows the power of a good team, and so do Erin and John, two other patients whose lives have changed with the help of Dana-Farber.

During her treatment for triple-negative breast cancer, Erin was determined to push back and defy her disease, which she did with style, dressing up as a superhero to inspire fellow patients each time she visited Dana-Farber for chemotherapy. Today, she shares her story widely as a Boston radio DJ, inspiring and encouraging others.

John, a hardworking husband and grandfather, was struck by cancer twice, and has since refocused his life on what matters most: spending time with his family and growing his impact on younger generations, which he does by teaching technology courses in his neighborhood.

Through the Dana-Farber and Jimmy Fund community, every step walked or race run, each mile on a bike or swing of the club, every ice cream scoop, home run, lemonade stand, video game, auction, donation to honor a loved one—it all makes a powerful difference in the lives of patients like these, because it’s not a single act, it’s part of a movement.

As a community, we have the collective power to create a more hopeful, cancer-free future—in Boston and around the world. We ask you to join us in our unwavering determination. We’re all Jimmy, and together, we can Defy Cancer.

For more about The Dana-Farber Campaign and more inspirational stories, visit DefyCancer.org.