The short answer to this question is: “Because people are dying, and not another life should be lost.”
But what is particularly special about this moment in the field of cancer research? In recent years, there have been three developments that have caused the tumblers in nature’s cosmic lock to align so that it is possible, for the first time, to open the door and see into the mechanisms of cancer.
First, advances in fields like genomics and molecular biology have permitted us to understand, specifically, what makes a cell malignant. In short, this means it’s easier for doctors and researchers to see and understand the pathology of the tumors they are targeting.
Second, as their knowledge base expands, scientists will be able to target tumors with increasing safety and effectiveness. This means that one-size-fits-all chemotherapy and radiation treatments may one day be a thing of the past.
Finally, the critical ability for scientists to deliver new therapies from the bench, to the bedside and back again is becoming a key to successful research.
Stand Up To Cancer’s mission is to fund cutting-edge translational research, get new treatments to patients faster, and save lives now.
So Why Now?
Because we now have new tools at our disposal to fight cancer in ways we’ve never had before. But to some extent, the answer is even simpler. To quote Martin Luther King, Jr., “now, because it is long overdue.”