In Memory of Max Vincze
When Suzanne Vincze lost her 22-year-old son Max to NUT carcinoma, she was told something no parent should ever hear: “There are no established treatments for this cancer.” Max died just 90 days after diagnosis not for lack of fight, but for lack of funding.
Like many rare and aggressive cancers, NUT carcinoma falls into a devastating gap. These adolescent and young adult cancers account for roughly 25% of cancer deaths, but receive only 4% of federal cancer research funding. That funding gap is the difference between progress and heartbreak.
Through the Max Vincze Foundation, Suzanne and her family have helped support early research at Dana-Farber, UNC, and Stanford. These partnerships are generating momentum, but that momentum is fragile. Without consistent government funding, promising studies are halted. Researchers leave the field. Hope stalls.
At the NUT Carcinoma Alliance, we know many of our members have similar stories, stories of diagnosis without answers, and grief without options. We also know how much power private funding, advocacy, and shared voices can hold. Families are the ones building registries, funding trials, and pushing science forward when public systems fall short.
But we shouldn’t have to do it alone.
We encourage you to read Suzanne’s full op-ed, published in the Las Vegas Sun, which offers a deeply personal look at how federal budget decisions directly impact families facing rare cancers, and why investing in this research is not only compassionate, but smart.
Read the full op-ed in the Las Vegas Sun »
