Our Crowdfunding Groups
Since 2011, the “Let the Journey Begin” fund has helped with brain cancer research and comfort care for brain cancer patients.
This Brain Tumor Awareness Month, please consider making a gift to the Let the Journey Begin fund. Your support gives hope to our patients as they make their journey through cancer treatment and beyond.
With support from generous donors like you, the Let the Journey Begin fund has been able to:
Make your impact on our patients with a gift today.
Thank you for your consideration and generosity.
Erin Dunmire and her niece Erin (Poppy) Polak
“I was diagnosed with a grade 4 GBM (glioblastoma multiforme) in January 2011 and had a reoccurrence September 2019 which was downgraded to a grade 3 Astrocytoma. My niece Erin (Poppy) Polak wanted to make something good out of something so horrific. So, we started a grass roots fundraising effort with the WVU Foundation named “Let the Journey Begin.” Through the fund, we not only raise money to support adult brain cancer research, but also raise money for patients who cannot afford personal care items. My belief in the fund and its impact is so strong, I have set aside monies in my own estate to ensure continued giving. We want to help make this disease a curable one and not the deadly one it currently is today.”
-Erin Dunmire, Cancer Survivor and WVU Medicine Guest Services Manager
Sonikpreet Aulakh, M.D.
“Malignant brain cancers such as Glioblastomas are fatal by nature. Recent reports suggest that incidence and mortality of brain tumors is higher in the Appalachian region. As a tertiary care cancer center, our goal is to enhance our understanding of brain malignancies and advance armamentarium of the most effective treatments to improve the outcomes of these prognostically dismal brain tumors. We are incessantly invested to galvanize and shift the paradigm in brain cancers to discover a cure. We can do this together as a community to help our patients and support their caregivers. Your generous donations and investments will fund the clinical and laboratory research initiatives of our scientists and physicians, lead to treatment discovery, support our clinical trials, and influence public policies. Hand in hand let us raise voices and make a gift to support our brain tumor initiatives.
- Sonikpreet Aulakh, M.D.