Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooke Desserich.
Hi Brooke, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
16 years ago our oldest daughter Elena was diagnosed with one of the deadliest of cancers, DIPG. After a hard-fought battle, she passed away 9 months later at only 6 years old. It was a fight no 6-year-old should ever have to endure. In her diagnosis, we learned that there had only been $75,000 in research ever done on this type of cancer.
We were given no chance at hope. We could not let another family face a diagnosis of no hope. We started The Cure Starts Now as that mission. Joined by over 40 chapters worldwide, 54 ambassadors, and 23 foundations, The Cure Starts Now has funded over $28 million in pediatric cancer research and support.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
What we thought would be a small movement quickly took on a mind of its own. The story and our self-published little book, “Notes Left Behind” about Elena and the incredible notes of love she left for us quickly gained international attention after being featured on Good Morning America. Our book was re-published by national publisher Harper Collins and re-published in 22 languages worldwide.
The opportunities and growth we experienced after this attention grew the charity, nearly doubling each year. We have worked hard to keep ahead of the tremendous growth so we don’t miss a single opportunity for these kids. Because that next dollar that comes in could fund the cure. We work so hard to make sure we surround ourselves with the right people who are ready to do whatever it takes to find that cure for our kids.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
The Cure Starts Now represents something revolutionary – a grassroots effort dedicated to, not just fighting one cancer, but the elimination of ALL cancers. We believe as the experts do; that to truly cure cancer you have to focus on:
– those cancers that are immune to treatment
– those cancers that also affect children
– and those cancers that are the biggest bullies with the highest death rate
We call this the Homerun CureTM, but the idea isn’t new. As a matter of fact, this Homerun strategy dates back to the early 1900s when bold advances in cancer research were made, leading to the invention of surgical efforts, radiation, and finally chemotherapy. But the advancements stopped, leaving many patients behind without hope of survival. Resources were prioritized for those cancers that affected the most people rather than those we could learn the most from, and the focus shifted from cures to treatments.
Research to find new treatments for childhood brain tumors represents one of our greatest opportunities to advance cancer research in general. Fighting for the homerun cure to all cancers 365 days a year. The Cure Starts Now is dedicated to pursuing cancer research on those fronts that offer the most promise rather than simply fighting “cancer by the numbers” as we have for the past 70 years. And in doing so, we pledge that the fight against cancer will be won. The cure starts NOW.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
The Cure Starts Now hosts approximately 150 events yearly around the world generating nearly 65% of our revenue. COVID-19 shut this down immediately. We were forward-thinking enough to realize that we needed to pivot quickly and find a new way to make up for that lost revenue. We worked on new marketing techniques, relationship building, and family support.
We fostered an environment of giving our team members the freedom to build their ideas by helping them through the creative process to activation. Some worked, and some failed. We celebrated the failures… learned from them and built from them. COVID was a great stepping stone for our foundation, because coming out of the pandemic, we could use those principles and methods to continue to grow as we added the events back in.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thecurestartsnow.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curestartsnow/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCureStartsNow/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CureStartsNow
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/curestartsnow/
- Other: www.donate2csn.org
