A LETTER FROM KRISTEN DAHLGREN
Announcing I’m leaving NBC and starting the Pink Eraser Project – Jan. 30, 2024
Dear CVC Family,
Thank you all for your interest… and your patience as we get the Cancer Vaccine Coalition (CVC) off the ground! I have been overwhelmed by your notes, posts and excitement about what we are doing. Going on national TV to announce I was quitting my job and starting a non-profit to help cure breast cancer was a massive leap of faith, but hopefully it gives you some idea of how strongly I believe in the science at this moment in history.
I’m not the only one.
On May 30, 2023, Bloomberg’s Lisa Jarvis wrote an analysis published in the Washington Post. She said, “Imagine a future where far fewer women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and women with a family history of breast cancer don’t have to make the difficult, even devastating choice to get a preventive mastectomy. Instead, women would get a series of shots that teach their immune systems how to quash breast cancer before it becomes a problem. A decade or two ago, that future would have sounded fantastical. But in the last six months, multiple clinical trials have brought that much closer to reality.”
Let that sink in.
This is no longer fantastical, pie-in-the-sky, pipedream thinking. This will happen. The questions are, “Do we stay on our current path – one filled with red tape, disjointed efforts, and funding challenges – and take 30+ years to make it happen? Or do we accelerate the process and save hundreds of thousands of lives in the process?”
You know my answer.
After a few weeks of scrambling to get CVC off the ground, I’ve been feeling a little under the weather. My daughter had a cold, and so of course I started coughing and my head ached. I know it’s a cold, and yet, every twinge is met with a thought I can’t control, “What if it’s my cancer coming back?” It isn’t fully rational, and yet, I bet I am not alone in this way of thinking and dread.
My doctor once told me, “A headache is never just a headache after you’ve had cancer.” I live with that. But what if we could end those fears for everyone? What if our daughters, Moms, friends and yes, the men in our lives too, didn’t have to worry? What if those of you who with late-stage cancer – you were told there was no hope for a cure - now find your immune system has rebooted and in tandem with whatever current treatment you’re receiving your own body is fighting and erasing those wicked cancer cells?
My daughter CC and my besties - Jan. 30, 2024
Together we can build that world.
What is the Cancer Vaccine Coalition? In a nutshell we are getting the smartest people together in a room to solve this. We are connecting top researchers and assembling brilliant minds in finance and fundraising. We are talking about partnerships with government and the pharmaceutical companies who will build and distribute the vaccines.
What do we need? I’ll be honest. A LOT.
1. Donations. My mother taught me to never talk about money, yet here I am, asking for dollars. Large scale studies are expensive and it takes a lot of effort and time for large academic centers to raise needed funds. We need to raise significant funds to accelerate the process.
The Ask: If you can, please donate. If you know someone who can give, pass this along to them. If your company has a foundation or matching funds, ask them for help. Hold a virtual or in-person fundraiser. If everyone in the U.S. gave just $3, we would have the funds to get this done. We are working day and night to bring in funds so we can save more lives!
2. Future Trial Participants. A lot of you are asking about trials. Our goal is to get more trials up and running and move existing trials into later stages. We also want to be able to fill trials quickly when they become available. Watch this space and we will keep you apprised. We will build a database of those who are interested. In the meantime, clinicaltrials.gov is a great resource for trials that are currently enrolling. We are working as quickly as we can to fund more trials (see #1)
3. Education and Excitement. A few short months ago, I didn’t know how close we were to breast cancer vaccines. Perhaps you just learned about them last week. It’s ok. We know now. Let’s spread the word. Because buzz builds momentum.
We need every person in America (and the world?) to know what’s possible.
Cancer Vaccine Coalition is a MOVEMENT… a wave of people saying: the time is now. We can no longer wait to end this. If we have the science, why wouldn’t we do everything we can to get that vaccine as quickly as possible? One in eight American women will be diagnosed in her lifetime. That means unless you are somehow extremely lucky or live in a cave, it will touch you. I hate to say that, and don’t wish it on anyone, but it’s time for straight talk.
There are people out there who could fund this themselves and it would be a rounding error in their checkbooks. Then there’s the rest of us who can shout it from the rooftops, use our fingertips on a smartphone or bring up the topic at parties and gatherings. Let’s spread the word! (And impress people at the same time!)
Did you know we are close to a breast cancer vaccine and if we all pitch in we could get it to market in five years … or less?!?
Engage with us on social. Encourage your friends to become donors and subscribe to our newsletter, below. Become part of the team that will push this forward… and make history!
If you’re a member of a great support organization, have them join us! We don’t want to erase the great work all of the pink ribbon orgs are doing. We just want to erase breast cancer… and maybe someday pink can just be a color we love to wear, not a symbol for a dreaded disease.
Thanks for being in at the beginning of our revolution! We will be in touch with more soon (Who’s ready to help us go viral on social media??) Until then, we’ll leave you with some photos of the party at 30 Rock on my last day at NBC and the start of the CVC.
With Love,
Kristen Dahlgren
