What to do with $1.05m? Thanks to BCRFA, UAB’s O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center gets to decide.

Last week as the rest of Birmingham was getting ready for Saturday’s stormy weather, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama (BCRFA) donated a total of $1,050,000 to the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB and researchers at CerFlux, the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute and Southern Research Institute.

Keep reading to find out more about BCRFA and their incredible work to advance breast cancer research in Alabama.

1. Over the last 24 years, BCRFA has invested almost $10m in breast cancer research at UAB.

Never doubt the power of people who’ve been affected by a life-altering illness to make a difference for all who follow behind them. Here’s what BCRFA does to enable them to invest serious money in breast cancer research:

• Events! These happen year-round and they’re community-driven, organization-organized. Because who doesn’t know someone who’s been affected by breast cancer?
• Sales of breast cancer research license plates. I was stunned to learn that sales of these generated more than $500,000 in the last year alone. That’s not pocket change.

2 The $1.05m was BCRFA’s largest donation to date, and went to some worthy recipients.

It’s kind of dizzying to look at all the good work this sizable donation was able to fund. Here are the very broadest brushstrokes:

• 7 fully funded projects
• 7 projects that received partial grants or second-year funding
• BCRFA Endowed Professorship

Many, but not all, of the projects are affiliated with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. Other recipients included CerFlux, Southern Research Institute and USA Mitchell Cancer Institute. All of the research happens in Alabama, and many of the researchers collaborate with each other.

Talk about helping to create an ecosystem where good things can happen . . .

Here’s what Barry Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., the new Director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB had to say about the award:

“Without the significant support of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama, we simply wouldn’t have a leading breast cancer research program that brings so many important, cutting-edge scientific discoveries to the patients of this state.”

3. It took a village to get here.

These are just a few of the efforts that helped BCRFA be able to make such a generous donation:

• City of Gardendale’s annual Charity Bowl Youth Football Tournament: more than $6000.
• Cahaba Brewery’s CahabaQue: more than $26,000.
• Jefferson County residents registered for 2,400 Breast Cancer Research car tags: more than $99,000.
• Statewide, over 13,000 vehicles in Alabama have Breast Cancer Research car tags: more than $500,000. 100% of tag sale proceeds go to research.

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If you want to help support BCRFA’s efforts, order a car tag or find out how to get involved at bcrfa.org.