On Sunday, February 19 members of the Frankfort Country Club (FCC) Rally for the Cure presented a check in the amount of $50,000 to the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Foundation at the UK Women’s Basketball game against Florida. The money will be passed to the UK Markey Cancer Center to be used for breast cancer research.
The FCC Rally for the Cure has long been a supporter of the UK Markey Cancer Foundation and the Markey Cancer Center. This year, they celebrated their 20th anniversary by throwing a bourbon and jazz-themed “party for a purpose,” which included live music, food, live and silent auction items and a limited-edition single barrel bottle signing.
The event raised $50,000, which was presented to UK Markey Cancer Center director Dr. Mark Evers at center court between the first and second quarter of UK Hoops’ victory over Florida. The money will go toward Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) Research being carried out by Drs. Edward H. Romond, MD, and Kathleen L. O’Connor, PhD of the UK Markey Cancer Center.
TNBC describes breast cancer cells that do not have estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors or large amounts of HER2/neu protein. Also called ER-negative, PR-negative HER2/neu-negative breast cancer. While TNBC represents only 10-15% of all breast cancers, it contributes to over one-third of all breast cancer deaths in the U. S.
“Our plan is to take a patient’s tumor cells, obtained by biopsy, and grow them in mice or in a special e-d culture that better represents the breast environment,” Drs. Romond and O’Connor explained in a statement to attendees of the event. “While the patient undergoes standard pre-operative chemotherapy, we will treat the mice and 3-D culture with the same therapy and compare it to several other chemotherapies. If the patient’s therapy does not work, they can be switched to a new therapy that was shown to be effective for the avatars…If successful, we will identify new ways to match TNBC patients with the right chemotherapy that will effectively kill off their tumors.”
The UM Markey Cancer Foundation and Markey Cancer Center are profoundly appreciative of the continued support shown by members of the FCC Rally for the Cure.