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T H E 1 I N 8 F O U N D A T I O N

ABOUT US

The 1 in 8 Foundation was created by its President and CEO, Ken Vrana, while working with The Garland Appeal. The Garland was created to honor the life and work of Linda Eastman McCartney, Sir Paul McCartney’s wife, who passed away of breast cancer.

Ken then produced and directed the award winning documentary, “Snow Angels,” which followed the lives of three women in North Carolina, all of whom had breast cancer.

During filming, Ken became acutely aware that while hundreds of millions of dollars had been invested in breast cancer research and the chasing the cure had become a pop catch phrase, women were continuing to die at the rate of one every fifteen minutes. With breast cancer affecting one in every eight women in the United States, something clearly needed to be done. While Ken couldn’t stop women from getting breast cancer he soon realized that there was something very simple that would make a huge difference; early detection. In fact, if detected early enough, a person actually stands a 93% chance of living out their lives cancer free.

October had also been Breast Cancer Awareness Month for over 25 years and yet Ken discovered that oftentimes by the end of October women were so tired of hearing about breast cancer that they tended to not think about it again until next October. As an early detection organization that was the last thing Ken wanted people to do and he also knew it could be fatal.

Recently the 1 in 8 was named the fastest growing cancer organization in the world and the 1 in 8 is doing everything it can to take the message of the importance early detection to the public. After meeting scores of people with colon cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer and uterine cancer, many of who told him that they felt marginalized, because all the attention seemed to be directed towards breast cancer, Ken authored a bill that would make the month of May, Early Detection Month for All Cancers. That bill was signed into law in the spring of 2010. With 1 in 8 team members in nearly every state in the union, the 1 in 8 is now uniquely positioned to assist those in need. If you have, in any way, been affected by cancer and would like to join is, you can contact the foundation at kvrana@1in8foundation.org. For more information about our work, please visit www.1in8foundation.org and www.1in8motorsports.org.

When it comes to saving lives, it’s all abut time.