I know David primarily as my fun-loving, sparkly-eyed brother-in-law who, like me, loves
a good cup of coffee and spending time with his family. My experiences with breast cancer, though, have introduced me to a different side of David, one I am immensely proud of and grateful for. David’s research is dedicated to finding ways to both diminish the side effects of successful cancer treatments and eradicate cancer-related deaths. His sentinel node detection technique is now preferred by physicians worldwide because of its ease and accuracy. David’s current research focuses on finding effective chemotherapy treatments that attack only cancer cells rather than every cell in the body, resulting in fewer side effects and more positive outcomes.
Unfortunately, Federal funding for cancer research has been severely reduced in the past few years. Research is costly, but not doing research is costlier in lives. Having the preliminary research to present to grant committees is an intense challenge while trying to keep the research afloat and a team intact. David says, “The big leaps and breakthroughs of science are often achieved by the most risky and speculative research. Donated funds allow immediate action on new ideas.”
Enter Scott Ireland, and his wife, Kim. After Scott received treatment for melanoma from David at the University of Vermont, Scott and Kim were so impressed by his cutting-edge research that they created an endowed Professorship in Surgical Oncology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and made David the first recipient. They subsequently created the S.D. Ireland Cancer Research Fund, which is very unusual in that it pays all its own administrative costs, funneling all donated monies directly into research. That’s where your contribution from the proceeds of this kit comes in. Five dollars of your purchase price of a pink Denise kit goes, one hundred percent, to research through the S.D. Ireland Fund. The purchase of a pink Companion Set contributes $2, and pink long cords $1 to the Fund. As a company, we donate an additional percentage of our entire annual income to the Fund. Any additional contribution you can make will also go where it is needed most, to pay the ongoing costs of research to find more effective and less debilitating treatments for breast cancer.
When I asked David recently what made him choose breast cancer as his focus of research he said, “This disease affects young, old and everyone in between. People wake up in the morning ready for a beautiful day and find a lump in the breast. No way. This has to be fixed. The breast cancer problem is completely solvable. There are great researchers with great ideas and teams of doctors ready to deliver what comes out of the research labs. It only has a price tag. Every single dollar is meaningful. That single donated dollar connects the donor with all the other caring people that want this problem to be eradicated.”
Thank you for joining us in supporting research to not only find better treatments for ourselves and for our children, but to eliminate the fear of breast cancer all together. Be happy, be healthy, and take joy in your knitting and your life!
Sincerely enjoying fibercrafting and hope you are too,
Linda Krag