Our Story.
Our Mission:
To reverse the underfunded and under-researched nature of brain cancer by funding innovative research on the most aggressive forms of brain cancer - Glioblastoma (GBM)
Our Vision:
A world where a GBM diagnosis is treatable and curable.
Our namesake, Knox Martin, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in September 2017. Despite surgeries, setbacks, radiation, and chemotherapy, Knox continued to set goals and live life to the fullest. He traveled, worked, studied, and was a 2020 graduate of the University of Georgia. Our foundation began less than four months after Knox passed away from an aggressive brain tumor called a Glioblastoma (GBM) in December, 2020. He was 24 years old.
Despite being first identified in scientific research in the 1920s, there are only four FDA-approved drugs to treat Glioblastoma. Four. In 100 years! For Glioblastoma, the five-year relative survival rate is only 7.2%, and the median survival is only 8 months.
These devastating statistics attest to the underfunded and under-researched nature of brain cancer treatments – particularly treatments for Glioblastoma. Few research studies are conducted in aggressive brain cancers because the outcomes are so poor; yet the outcomes remain poor because so few research studies exist. We want to end this infinite loop.
Our mission is to fund innovative brain cancer research, particularly in aggressive brain cancers. Our vision is a world where a Glioblastoma diagnosis is widely treatable and curable. We engage with community partners and renowned research institutions to fund life-saving treatments, giving patients like Knox a longer life expectancy.
Since our inception in March of 2021, KMF has raised over $600,000 from over 1,200 first-time and repeat donors spanning from families and friends across the country, ranging in age from 18 to 85. We’ve garnered invitations onto Duke University's Brain Tumor Center Board of Advisors and seats at the 2022 Society for Neuro-Oncology annual conference. We’ve produced two major annual fundraising events, welcoming nearly 300 guests on both occasions. We’re thrilled to continue to build upon this upward trajectory and exponential growth.
Today, we partner with the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University. The Duke Brain Tumor Center directly uses our funding to study new, innovative therapies in patients with Glioblastoma – the most deadly and aggressive type of brain cancer. Because of the generosity of our donors, the top research minds in the world are focusing their energy and attention on eradicating this devastating disease.
We are honored to serve alongside and partner with you, our beloved friends, donors, and sponsors to make good on the promise made to Knox the day he passed: we will never stop fighting to end brain cancer and we will spend the rest of our lives funding innovative brain cancer research so someone else’s Knox can have a shot at a longer life.
