The HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation started in 2010 when three siblings lost their wonderful mother Paulette to stage IV anal cancer. When Paulette was diagnosed two years earlier at the age of 51, her treatment options were the same as existed in 1974 and there were no resources for her and her children to fight the disease.
After her death, her children – Justine, Tristan and Camille – who were all in their twenties, decided to fill the void that existed for anal cancer patients by starting a nonprofit to end the disease. Seeing an opportunity to improve survival and support for patients like their mother, they created an organization with an ambitious vision: develop new cures for and eliminate this cancer and its cause, a preventable skin virus. Since then, it has become a leader in the fight against anal cancer and HPV, the virus that causes 5% of all cancers.
Over the last seven years, the HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation has achieved key milestones towards eradicating anal cancer and supporting patients. The organization established the first scientific medical society and network for anal cancer, led coalitions of disease and medical groups to ensure equal access to the cancer-preventing HPV vaccine, created the first educational forums and a robust peer support program for anal cancer patients and caregivers, educated clinicians about best practices to improve the anal cancer patient experience, and invested in novel scientific research for new treatments. For the first time in decades, therapeutic options for metastatic HPV-related anal cancer are improving, due to research that the Foundation supported.
The HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation is a donor-supported research, support and advocacy non-profit organization. The organization is dedicated to empowering anal cancer patients and accelerating prevention and treatment methods to eliminate anal cancer and the virus that causes it and other cancers. In Paulette’s memory, her dedicated family looks forward to the day when no woman or man will have to suffer from anal cancer and other HPV-associated malignancies. For more information, please visit: analcancerfoundation.org.
