Lara MacGregor, who lives with metastatic breast cancer, started in 2012 to provide women undergoing cancer treatment a way to encourage one another by sharing a scarf and a story. In 2015, Hope Scarves established a Metastatic Breast Cancer Research Fund to raise funds to support research and patient care.

For 2019, Hope Scarves has provided a gift of $25,000 to the , with an anonymous match of $25,000 for a total gift of $50,000. The funds are designated to bringing more clinical trials for metastatic breast cancer patients to Louisville.

Kentucky has one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the United States, and Jefferson County has one of the highest rates in Kentucky. Participation in clinical trials is one way to improve outcomes, not only for the patients who participate, but by bringing more and better treatments to market for all patients.

“Participation in clinical trials benefits not only the patients involved in the trial, but the field of cancer treatment in general,” said Beth Riley, MD, deputy director for clinical affairs at UofL’s Brown Cancer Center. “Currently, metastatic breast cancer is not curable with standard treatment. By participating in trials, patients in Kentucky not only have early access to novel drugs or drug combinations, but they are helping physicians and scientists learn more about effective treatments and disease characteristics so we can move closer to a cure for this disease. Clinical trials involvement is vital to improve the lives of cancer patients here in Kentucky and worldwide.” 

One patient who benefited from treatment in a clinical trial at the center is Brenda Craig, a Louisville native who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013. After several years in remission, her cancer returned; this time it was stage 4 and more challenging to treat.

“The treatments I was getting were not making me feel good and were not doing anything for my cancer,” Craig said. “When my doctor said, ‘Would you like to try the clinical trial?’ I wanted to live, so I said, ‘Yea! Sure, I’d try it.’”

Her condition improved while she was on the trial treatment, nearly bringing her to remission again. Unfortunately, she had to stop the trial drug when she came down with pneumonia. Nevertheless, she is grateful to have had the opportunity.

“The clinical trial brought me a long way. I was on it 8 to 10 months and I was doing great,” Craig said. She now is on another treatment, but her cancer has remained stable.

Craig said one of her most important missions on her cancer journey is to support others with the disease, a mission shared by Hope Scarves.

“We are human. We cry and we tell our stories to each other. My story helps you and your story helps someone else. We keep it going,” Craig said. “Even if I don’t make it, I hope I can be an example for someone else, that whatever they did for me, it can help someone else.”

MacGregor, a Louisville resident, has seen clinical trials benefit patients at the UofL Brown Cancer Center, and her own treatment includes a drug tested at the center. She wants Hope Scarves’ funds to invigorate that process.

“There is a huge burden to participate in clinical trials that are only available in another city. You have transportation and lodging to consider, and you are away from your home support system – your family and friends – who truly make a difference when you are fighting this disease,” MacGregor said.

By making more trials available in Louisville, not only local women benefit, but also future patients by allowing more people to participate in the trials, advancing medical research more quickly.

“Clinical trials are the future of cancer treatment, not a last resort,” MacGregor said. “These therapies are the next generation of care and may give patients better outcomes, and we are providing these funds to enable more women to have access to them.”

Runners in the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon and Mini Marathon have raised funds for Hope Scarves as a team, Outrunning Cancer, for the past seven years. In 2015, Hope Scarves presented its first gift to the UofL Brown Cancer Center to support basic research. This year, in addition to UofL, Hope Scarves is providing funds for basic cancer research to Johns Hopkins Medical Center and the Dana-Farber Cancer Center at Harvard University.

“It is our intentional strategy to fund both basic science and patient access to care,” MacGregor said.

“We were so excited when we learned about this gift,” said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi. “Once again, the Gheens Foundation has stepped up to support the University of Louisville. Now it is up to us to use this funding in ways that clearly will benefit our students and the community.”

The unrestricted gift allows the university to allocate the funds toward areas of greatest need. 

Bendapudi said $500,000 will be directed toward enhancing safety and security staffing and technology on the Belknap and Health Sciences Center campuses. The remaining $1.5 million will fund strategic initiatives identified through the university’s strategic planning process, which is currently underway.

“This is a perfect time to look at where and how we should invest these funds,” she said. “The only thing we know for sure is that this gift will be used to ensure that UofL is a great place to learn, to work and in which to invest.”

Gheens has given more than $12 million to UofL over five decades, including funding for the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute, Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium and the Gheens Foundation Inc. Chair in Aging Research. The largest gift was a $2.5 million grant in 2013 for health-related medical research. 

Gheens President Barry Allen said, “I am confident that our founders, Edwin and Mary Jo Gheens, would be most pleased with the trustees’ decision to make this grant. It recognizes the vital importance of the university’s mission and is an affirmation of Dr. Bendapudi’s fresh and strengthening leadership.”

Mike Mountjoy, Chair and CEO of the Foundation said, “The University of Louisville is critical to this city. We felt like it was time for us to step up.”

Since Bendapudi assumed the UofL helm, major gifts include from the Owsley Brown II Family Foundation, from retired Churchill Downs Inc. Chairperson Carl F. Pollard and a from Republic Bank Foundation and the Trager Family Foundation in support of optimal aging research.

Check out footage from today’s press conference: