Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund

AmyQ

First of all, I am having a difficult time finding a good place for this information, so that said, here goes. Mods feel free to move.

I recently watched (again) Brian's Song, the true story of Brian Piccolo who died at the age of 26 of a rare form of cancer that metastasized to his lungs. He was a professional football player playing at the time for the Chicago Bears. Anyway, baby boomers most likely know or remember the story well. As I usually do, I read up on his life a bit more and learned that the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund was established sometime after his death but more interestingly, as of 1991 research dollars are dedicated to breast cancer. I thought that was kind of nice. I didn't read if the kind of cancer Mr Piccolo died from was cured or why the switch but I just wanted to share. Here's a link: http://www.brianpiccolofund.org/research/http://www.brianpiccolofund.org/research/

Amy

SpecialK

The type of cancer Brian Piccolo had was an aggressive germ cell testicular cancer that had spread to his lung.  The research fund in his name had made such advances in treatment since its inception that they shifted their focus to funding research for breast cancer.  Here is a bit of info from the fun's site:

"The fund initially supported research into improved detection and treatment
for embryonal cell carcinoma, the rare cancer that took Brian’s life. After
early success led to remarkable improvements in survival rates (now up to 95
percent) for those with this disease, the fund decided to focus its efforts on
cancers prominent in women, including breast cancer, which strikes hundreds of
thousands of women each year and is the most common cancer in women of all races
and ethnicities."

 

AmyQ

Wow, it's so great to see success in fighting some forms of cancer. I know childhood leukemia used to be a death sentence but there's been so many advances, children are fighting and winning this disease. I do hope that BC becomes one of those types of cancers, and soon! Thanks for the additional information SpecialK. You are truly a font of knowledge which is so beneficial to me and many others.

Amy

SpecialK

AmyQ - I should own stock in Google since I am a naturally curious person with too much time on my hands, lol!  I am glad you have found my posts useful! I am old enough to remember when the movie Brian's Song came out, the success of this fund is an awesome tribute to Mr. Piccolo.  I am happy that there has been progress in eliminating the kind of cancer that took his life at such a young age, and I think it is generous of the foundation to change their view and select a type of cancer to provide research funds for that affects so many of us.  I know we all hope that any advances made from research they fund can result in as positive a change for us too!