(April 20, 2017) The bar at Burley Oak Brewing Company in Berlin was packed on Monday night, as it normally would be, but this time it was about more than beer, as members of the community came to support Paul Suplee and his family following the passing of his wife, Julie, last month.
Organizer Todd DeHart said Tuesday that about $2,500 was raised during the event to help defray medical expenses from Julie’s final rounds of kidney cancer treatment at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, as well as pay for funeral expenses. Every dollar above the family’s actual expenses will be donated to KC Cure, an organization of patients, caregivers, doctors and medical researchers dedicated to curing kidney cancer.
Dena Battle, president of KC Cure, was among the many who came to support the Suplees.
“I lost my husband to kidney cancer. My husband was treated by the same doctor that was treating Julie at Johns Hopkins,” Battle said. “We wanted to do something because we knew there just wasn’t enough money going to kidney cancer.”
The nonprofit, she said, helps with peer-reviewed grants for kidney cancer research.
“Most cancers have peer-reviewed grants, so doctors who want to do research in a certain area in the field of cancer will apply for those kinds of grants. And nobody offers those for kidney cancer,” she said. “It was such a problem that they shut down the kidney cancer lab at Johns Hopkins. There wasn’t enough funding – there was no outlet to go to.”
She said kidney cancer research struggled for funding because of its relative obscurity – roughly 60,000 cases are diagnosed each year versus about 222,500 new cases for lung cancer, for example, according to American Cancer Society statistics published last year.
“It’s certainly significant to the families that are impacted by it,” Battle said. “But when you compare it to lung cancer, colon cancer or breast cancer it’s just a much different number.”
Started last year, KC Cure will award its first $100,000 grant for kidney cancer research in May, Battle said.
In the past, she said, a single molecule discovered in a small research lab by a pair of scientists in Germany has paid enormous dividends in the treatment of kidney and other cancers. About 15 years ago, that molecule, sunitinib malate, became the first FDA-approved drug in the treatment of kidney cancer.
“It just started with this early seed funding,” Battle said. “It literally changed the landscape for kidney cancer and we now have five similar drugs like Sutent on the market that we can use to treat advance stages of the disease.
“We can’t have those kinds of molecules developed unless these small grants are around to sort of plant those seeds. That’s what we do,” Battle said. “Just in a year we’re going to do our first grant, and the goal over time is to do 10 or 15 of those every single year.”
Each grant, she said, opens the door to other funding sources and can have a ripple effect in improvements in cancer treatments across the board. An increase in funding, Battle added, could also help address the shortage of specialists devoted to kidney cancer.
“When I decided to do this, I sat down with someone who worked for another cancer research organization and she said, ‘you’re crazy, it will never, ever work.’ But less than a year later here we are. It’s actually been very successful,” Battle said.
Battle said she was in Berlin on Monday not to represent KC Cure, but to show support for her friend Paul and his family.
“We’re not here for KC Cure – we want all the money to go to the Suplee family. We know what it looks like when a family deals with that type of situation,” she said. “A 10-year battle [with cancer] is long and it’s devastating. Our hope is every cent goes to the Suplees. We’re here to support them and to say we’re behind them.”
For more information on KC Cure, visit www.kccure.org.
A YouCaring page was established to help the Suplee family. As of press time, Tuesday, 174 donors had given $21,275 towards a $30,000 goal. For more information, visit www.youcaring.com/thesupleefamily-785141.
Organizer Todd DeHart said Tuesday that about $2,500 was raised during the event to help defray medical expenses from Julie’s final rounds of kidney cancer treatment at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, as well as pay for funeral expenses. Every dollar above the family’s actual expenses will be donated to KC Cure, an organization of patients, caregivers, doctors and medical researchers dedicated to curing kidney cancer.
Dena Battle, president of KC Cure, was among the many who came to support the Suplees.
“I lost my husband to kidney cancer. My husband was treated by the same doctor that was treating Julie at Johns Hopkins,” Battle said. “We wanted to do something because we knew there just wasn’t enough money going to kidney cancer.”
The nonprofit, she said, helps with peer-reviewed grants for kidney cancer research.
“Most cancers have peer-reviewed grants, so doctors who want to do research in a certain area in the field of cancer will apply for those kinds of grants. And nobody offers those for kidney cancer,” she said. “It was such a problem that they shut down the kidney cancer lab at Johns Hopkins. There wasn’t enough funding – there was no outlet to go to.”
She said kidney cancer research struggled for funding because of its relative obscurity – roughly 60,000 cases are diagnosed each year versus about 222,500 new cases for lung cancer, for example, according to American Cancer Society statistics published last year.
“It’s certainly significant to the families that are impacted by it,” Battle said. “But when you compare it to lung cancer, colon cancer or breast cancer it’s just a much different number.”
Started last year, KC Cure will award its first $100,000 grant for kidney cancer research in May, Battle said.
In the past, she said, a single molecule discovered in a small research lab by a pair of scientists in Germany has paid enormous dividends in the treatment of kidney and other cancers. About 15 years ago, that molecule, sunitinib malate, became the first FDA-approved drug in the treatment of kidney cancer.
“It just started with this early seed funding,” Battle said. “It literally changed the landscape for kidney cancer and we now have five similar drugs like Sutent on the market that we can use to treat advance stages of the disease.
“We can’t have those kinds of molecules developed unless these small grants are around to sort of plant those seeds. That’s what we do,” Battle said. “Just in a year we’re going to do our first grant, and the goal over time is to do 10 or 15 of those every single year.”
Each grant, she said, opens the door to other funding sources and can have a ripple effect in improvements in cancer treatments across the board. An increase in funding, Battle added, could also help address the shortage of specialists devoted to kidney cancer.
“When I decided to do this, I sat down with someone who worked for another cancer research organization and she said, ‘you’re crazy, it will never, ever work.’ But less than a year later here we are. It’s actually been very successful,” Battle said.
Battle said she was in Berlin on Monday not to represent KC Cure, but to show support for her friend Paul and his family.
“We’re not here for KC Cure – we want all the money to go to the Suplee family. We know what it looks like when a family deals with that type of situation,” she said. “A 10-year battle [with cancer] is long and it’s devastating. Our hope is every cent goes to the Suplees. We’re here to support them and to say we’re behind them.”
For more information on KC Cure, visit www.kccure.org.
A YouCaring page was established to help the Suplee family. As of press time, Tuesday, 174 donors had given $21,275 towards a $30,000 goal. For more information, visit www.youcaring.com/thesupleefamily-785141.