Just after New Year’s Day 2003, my mother, Anne B. Kingsley, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  Her doctor referred her to an oncologist and following a battery of tests they determined she was at Stage III.  Having never heard of the disease let alone the various stages, I researched ovarian cancer and discovered that the survival rate at Stage III was very low.  Determined to fight the disease to see her four grandchildren grow up, and with the support of my father and the rest of our family, she endured heavy doses of chemo therapy, surgery and more chemo therapy.  Her battery of treatments lasted until July of 2003, when she was readmitted to the hospital because the cancer had invaded her bowels.  Three weeks later, she died at the tender young age of 65.  I spent most of those three weeks with her in the hospital and it was both the best and worst time of my life.  I have never known a stronger, smarter or more giving person and I miss her every day.  While my mother never once questioned her fate, asked “why me?” or wavered in her faith in the afterlife, I feel cheated every day.

The more I studied the disease the more frustrated I became with two aspects in particular.  First, there is no reliable test to diagnose the disease early in its life cycle, when the chances of successfully treating it are best and second, the mortality rate for the latter stages of the disease is shockingly high.  Those two facts, coupled with the minimal support this disease attracts on a national level, let me to conclude that more resources must be invested in understanding, detecting and treating ovarian cancer.

The Anne B. Kingsley Ovarian Cancer Foundation is committed to the goal of supporting promising research aimed at early detection of ovarian cancer and supporting the brightest minds studying in the field of gynecological oncology.  Our Foundation is exempt under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code and accepts monetary gifts from compassionate individuals and corporate donors and then invests those gifts into research grants and scholarships supporting the most worthy applicants.  Please join us in the fight against this deadly disease.

Robert T. Kingsley, Son & Founder

See the story that appeared on our Foundation in the Sacramento Business Journal.