Steven's Advice: Take Risks, Help People
We may have Give for Good Louisville coming up on September 17, 2020 but I am also excited to share some other ‘good’ that has been going on in Louisville.
Before Steven passed away, he gave me two pieces of advice: take risks and help people. Those words have and will always stay with me. He knew that I, as an innately cautious person who plays it safe, needed to be challenged to take risks. And he also gave the reminder to always look to help others. Steven Vanover — body failing, hospital bedridden, in and out of consciousness — had the mindset to focus on others and not on himself at that moment. One of a kind.
Since its inception in 2015, the Steven Vanover Foundation (SVF) has been committed to doing just what Steven said: taking risks and helping people. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), a hospital leading the way in sarcoma research and treatment, was one of the hospitals from which Steven sought care. The staff at MSK are wonderful and remain committed to helping those in need. And in order to do that, funding is vital to research and treatment developments.
SVF has contributed $290,000 to MSK since 2015 for a sarcoma clinical study that has spanned multiple clinical phases, including treating patients with a new drug! On Aug. 27, 2020, SVF board members sat down (virtually, of course) with Dr. Shakeel Modak, M.D., and Dr. Emily Slotkin, M.D. of MSK to discuss the progress of the clinical trial.
We were excited to learn that the clinical trial has just recently entered Phase 2 of its study. In Phase 1, 48 patients were treated with the development of a new treatment regimen. This treatment regimen includes a new drug that is custom made for each patient. According to Dr. Modak & Dr. Slotkin, funds contributed by SVF directly helped finance the actual production of the drug as MSK did not have much pharmaceutical funding for the study. In fact, without SVF, MSK would have not been able to produce the new drug for 98% of the patients in the clinical trials! The fact that this drug was made possible from SVF’s generous donors and the hard work of all SVF volunteers — wow, just wow. I would pat each one of you on the back (but that is currently frowned upon).
Phase 2 of the study has already included the treatment of seven patients. Additionally, Phase 2 is expected to have a larger group of patients than Phase 1. Based on the demographics of desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) sarcoma, most of the patients are young adults in their early 20s, just like Steven.
Dr. Modak and Dr. Sloktin said the results and findings from the clinical study thus far will be posted in the Journal of Oncology soon. Looking ahead, Dr. Modak and Dr. Slotkin plan to continue the clinical trials throughout the study period. However, both mentioned the success of the research and trials face many barriers including a lack of funding. Don’t worry, docs….SVF is here to help.
So let’s recap. Take risks, check. Help others, does a HELL YES work?
Steven may be gone. But his legacy and spirit are as vibrant and alive as ever in you and in SVF. I know he is proud of all of us and is excited about what comes next.
Speaking of what comes next…remember Give for Good Louisville? Well, one way to help those patients like Steven is to donate to our Give for Good Louisville campaign today!
P.S. — As Steven would say, “Go Cards!”