Fighting back

Eighteen months after her diagnosis, Dolly O’Neal knew she had to do something. Her daughter was 8 at the time, and she didn’t want her to suffer as she had.

Eighteen years later, the $4.5 million raised by the foundation she started with Bruce Sokol in 1996 is more to her than a sum of money. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama (BCRFA) has been the resource to help her in her own battle with breast cancer. 

In 2009, the Mountain Brook resident’s cancer came back, and close colleague Dr. Andres Forero of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center put her on Femara, a treatment that had been tested thanks in part to funding from the BCRFA. Another recurrence was diagnosed in December 2013, and she is on a new trial drug, Caravelle, that the center is studying.

Today, O’Neal is grateful that she has been around for the three weddings and five grandchildren her family has welcomed since 2007.

“Every year they seem to come up with something that’s a little closer to treatment to keep people alive,” O’Neal said. “My cancer will never leave my body, but you can keep it at bay with almost no side effects.”

Thanks to research by the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and others around the country, four out of five breast cancer patients win their battles against cancer today, as compared to 30 years ago when four out of five lost their lives to it. Still, though, it is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in women.

A history of support

Sokol was inspired to raise money for research to help his wife, D.D., after she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in 1995. She passed away after a five-year battle, but Sokol’s fight didn’t stop there.

“When my wife died, I kept going,” Sokol said. “There are too many women in my life not to.”

He teamed up with O’Neal in January 1996, and within 13 weeks, they raised $75,000 at an LPGA tournament at Pine Tree Country Club, even after the club suffered tornado damage the week before the event was scheduled.

The BCRFA has added 10 additional annual fundraisers, but the golf tournament is still going strong every April or May and has never met a rainy day.

The foundation also helps support fundraisers initiated by people throughout the state. Each year a former Alabama football player plans a paintball tournament, the city of Calera goes pink, Cullman is home to an archery tournament, the color pink floods a youth football event in Gardendale, and 25 fire departments throughout the state raise $80- $100,000 dollars simply by selling special T-shirts in October. The Dixie Divas, a female motorcycle-riding group, welcome bikers in pink wigs, pink tattoos and pink shirts to raise $25,000 through its Revvin’ 4 Research charity ride.

 “It’s a remarkable thing the foundation has done,” O’Neal said. “Bruce and I had no idea this would end up where it has.”

For Sokol, the most remarkable moment came when residents of Pleasant Grove presented the foundation with $1,500 just a year after it was struck by a catastrophic tornado.

Funding local research

 Perhaps the most notable distinction of the foundation is its commitment to Alabama. All funds raised go to the center at UAB exclusively, helping provide seed money that enables them to receive larger funding grants. 

For example, Forero recently received a $6.4 million grant from Susan G. Komen thanks to $30,000 in seed money the BCRFA gave him. 

In fact, for every $1 the foundation gives, UAB estimates it can leverage it for $16 more from national organizations. Sokol and O’Neal also note that beyond paying three staff members, virtually all money raised goes directly to research. The BCRFA presents around $500,000 it raises annually to the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“The community support from individuals and corporations has been phenomenal,” Sokol said.

To get to this point, O’Neal said many survivors have jumped on board with their cause because they know research is key. It’s the fight of these women that she credits for funding that now is being used to fuel research for other cancers.

Still, the fight continues.

“There are so many women getting diagnosed, but they are getting diagnosed at an early stage so it is treatable,” O’Neal said.

To learn more about the foundation, visit bcrfa.org.