Our Mission
Hope for Stomach Cancer is a 501(c)(3) that provides resources to patients, caregivers and loved ones while promoting early detection and prevention to the general and medical communities. Hope creates and facilitates programs that enable those affected by stomach cancer to take actionable steps to live the best possible life through each phase of the disease.
Our Story
When Aki’s father was diagnosed with advanced stage stomach cancer in December of 2013, her family’s world was turned upside down. Without a clear direction to take or a treatment plan in place, it was a frightening time for them all. Limitations were being placed by her father’s health insurance company left and right, and there was a severe lack of stomach cancer research to give them some bearing on what to do next. They quickly realized that beating cancer was going to be a full-time family effort, and one that would require a whole team of dedicated doctors.
Her father had a total gastrectomy (removal of his stomach), followed by chemotherapy, and then five weeks of radiation. Today, he’s in remission, and although they are very lucky, they don’t take his health for granted. They have to remain mindful that with a cancer that aggressive and unpredictable, the outlook could suddenly change.