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Our Founder
"The mission of Miles for Hope is to raise awareness and funding of cutting edge brain tumor research as well as clinical trials and to provide travel assistance to qualified patients. Through our work, we intend on finding not only treatments that provide a better quality of life for those suffering with a brain tumor, but to find a cure."
Miles For Hope was founded by Barb and Bob Gibbs to fund brain tumor research and clinical trials and to provide travel assistance to brain tumor patients enrolled in brain tumor clinical trials. Miles For Hope is located in Clearwater, Florida.
This cause hits very close to home for Miles For Hope. Bob was diagnosed with a primary brain tumor on May 16, 2004. Since his diagnosis in 2004, given the low grade of his tumor, the only hope he had was that his tumor would not grow or become more aggressive. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Over the years, he has undergone two brain surgeries and chemotherapy. During his last surgery on May 15, 2008, he was told that his tumor had become more aggressive and is now a Grade III. This has decreased his chances of survival. However, once the tumor became more aggressive, this has qualified him for a Brain Tumor Vaccine Trial at UCLA Medical Center. This trial is showing promise.
It has been our belief since his initial diagnosis that if brain tumors can be treated while still a lower grade cancer, this should increase the patient’s chance of survival. It was our initial goal to raise enough funds to expand the current vaccine clinical trial to include Grade II Brain Tumors and Pediatric Brain Tumor Patients, thus giving them the hope we have not had.
In July 2011, Miles For Hope partnered with two other brain tumor organizations, Accelerated Brain Cancer Cure Foundation (ABC2) and the Stephen M. Coffman Charitable Trust, in awarding a $100,000 research grant to UCLA neurosurgeon Linda Liau, M.D., PhD to begin the clinical trial, Optimizing Dendritic Cell Vaccination (DCVax®) for Low Grade Glioma Patients, the first trial of its kind for patients diagnosed with this common form of brain cancer. The next step is to fund a vaccine trial for Pediatric Brain Tumor Patients.
Living with a terminal disease day by day brings its own trials and tribulations. But when you add no hope this makes the disease that much worse. It is our goal to give this hope to others. To continue funding this cutting-edge research, Miles For Hope is hosting Moving Towards A Cure® 5K Run/Walk for Brain Tumors events across the country, to raise awareness and funding to fight against this devastating disease.
Please assist us in our cause. Consider joining Miles For Hope at one of our scheduled events, or assisting as a volunteer. It will take a complete team of dedicated and caring individuals willing to donate a couple of hours of their time to make this a great success. You may also support our cause with a donation. No donation is too small - each dollar brings us closer to our goal. Every donation will also receive a Tax Deductible Receipt.
If you have any questions regarding our cause, or require additional information, please feel free to contact us.
Sincerely,
Barb & Bob Gibbs
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