Bite Me Cancer Foundation

Foundation History

Nicole Ferraro was diagnosed with medullary thyroid cancer, a rare form of thyroid carcinoma, in April 2010. Immediately following her diagnosis, she organized a Relay for Life team in support of her diagnosis, and two weeks later finished as the #1 individual fundraiser in South Atlantic Region of the American Cancer Society after raising over $20,000. Two months after the formation of Bite Me Cancer, Nicole Ferraro received the 2010 Leadership Fairfax Non-Profit Educational Leadership Award. The following year, she received the first ever Perlita Liwanag Scholarship from the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults at Chantilly High School. Bite Me Cancer focuses on supporting teens undergoing cancer treatment, in addition to supporting the progression of thyroid cancer research and treatment development.

In September 2013, Bite Me Cancer became a member of the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area. On July 31, 2014, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared the third week of January, starting in 2015, Teen Cancer Awareness Week in the Commonwealth of Virginia, thanks to the hard work and determination of Ferraro and the Bite Me Cancer Foundation. McAuliffe stated in his declaration that “the health and safety of all Virginians is essential to the happiness and well-being of the Commonwealth’s families and communities, whereas cancer is the leading cause of death in the adolescent population, and whereas the survival rates for adolescent cancer have not improved in the last thirty years.” The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors provided a proclamation for Teen Cancer Awareness Week in January 2015, and Bite Me Cancer officially announced on January 4, 2015 that the awareness week would begin the same year. In his declaration, Governor McAuliffe also highlighted the fact that many teens battling cancer are “isolated from their friends and family,” and noted the importance of “vigorously” supporting them as they return to everyday social and academic settings. Bite Me Cancer and the Commonwealth of Virginia continue to raise awareness in schools and homes with this annual event.

Founder History

Following Nicole Ferraro’s medullary thyroid cancer diagnosis, she underwent a ten-hour surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, followed an injection to temporarily repair a paralyzed vocal chord and six weeks of radiation therapy. For the next two years, Ferraro had repeat vocal chord injections before having a successful vocal chord implant surgery in 2013. In the summer of 2014, Ferraro’s bi-annual scans showed that the cancer had metastasized to the lower lobe of her left lung. The cancer spot was partially blocking an airway so treatment was needed right away. In September 2014, Ferraro had surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to remove the lower left lobe, but it was ultimately unsuccessful because the cancer spot had overlapped a little into the seam of the upper lobe, and doctors decided that it was not wise to take out her entire left lung. Alternatively, Ferraro elected to begin taking an oral chemotherapy drug called Vandetanib (also Caprelsa), which she started in October 2014. Nikki is continuing this treatment as long as it yields positive results and side effects are not overwhelming.

Ferraro explained that many people refer to thyroid cancer as the “good cancer” due to the perception that there is not a high rate of mortality, its history of being diagnosed in a smaller group of people and that losing the thyroid isn't a difficult situation. However, as she is a perfect example, thyroid cancer is extremely dangerous and can be very aggressive. Medullary thyroid cancer is very rare, accounting for only 3-4% of all thyroid cancer diagnoses. There is only one current clinical trial that is studying thyroid gland medullary carcinoma. Currently, medullary thyroid cancer is noncurative, meaning that those diagnosed with this form of thyroid carcinoma will likely battle it for the rest of their lives. Only two drugs have been approved for medulllary thyroid cancer treatment.

Research

Bite Me Cancer has funded three research grants for thyroid cancer in the past, and is working toward funding a fourth during 2016. The first grant, totaling $57,500, was awarded in 2014 to Ramona Dadu, MD at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. The two-year research project, titled “Immune Markers in Medullary Thyroid Cancer (MTC) and Their Clinical Significance”, and began in July 2014. Dr. Dadu is an Assistant Professor at Anderson Cancer Center in the Department of Endocrine Neoplasia & Hormonal Disorders. Dadu also received the Women in Endocrinology Young Investigator Award and the American Thyroid Association Grant for her research in 2014. Dadu’s research “will work with experts in the field of immunotherapy to uncover new information of prognosis and how medications interact with the cancer,”. “The ultimate goal is to see that many patients will benefit from this approach.”

The 2nd funded grant from Bite Me Cancer was designated in June 2014 and awarded to Dr.Laura Boucai, MD who works at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The third grant was designated in June 2016, to Dr. Irene Min at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. Once again, this research grant was through the partnership with American Thyroid Association.

Fundraising

Bite Me Cancer organizes annual events, including a Cancerversary wine dinner (2014–present) every April to honor and celebrate with cancer survivors including Nikki who was diagnosed in April. Also a summer/early fall event is held each year, “Take a Swing at Cancer" (2011-2013) and now "Bite Me Cancer for a Lifetime (2014–present), to raise awareness for teenagers battling cancers and for thyroid cancer research. There are currently few programs in place to support teenagers with cancer, but there are thousands of programs to support young children and adults. Teenagers with cancers often require specific treatment and support, and there is very little awareness of the struggles that teenagers with cancer face. By developing and shipping the Teen Support Bags to hospitals around the country for their teenagers battling cancer and holding events to raise awareness, Bite Me Cancer is participating in a movement to increase support and make more resources available to these special teenagers.

In 2014, the George Mason University chapter of Kappa Phi Gamma, a national sorority, announced that all 2014 philanthropy-related C.A.R.E. Week donations would be to the Bite Me Cancer Foundation in support of raising awareness of thyroid cancer. In 2015, the national office of Kappa Phi Gamma selected Bite Me Cancer to be the recipient of all the sorority's C.A.R.E week fundraising across each of its chapters.

Bite Me Cancer supports and participates in a number of other fundraising events every year. To learn more about current and upcoming events visit Bite Me Cancer's website or Team Bite Me Cancer's Crowdrise page.

Teen Support Bags

Bite Me Cancer coordinates the distribution of multiple Teen Support Bag events every year. Each bag includes items to eliminate stress and support teenagers currently undergoing cancer treatment. Nikki Ferraro tries to travel to various hospitals and hand-deliver the bags to teens, offering advice and encouragement during their treatments. While undergoing treatment, Nicole noticed the lack of support provided to teens receiving cancer treatment. The Teen Support Bags help to address that gap by providing activities and resources for teenagers undergoing treatment. For 2015, Bite Me Cancer was able to distribute 1,200 more Teen Support Bags and now has almost 70 hospital partners who will continue to distribute the Teen Support Bags to teenagers battling cancer. The foundation has distributed 2,700 bags so far since beginning this program in 2012. Bite Me Cancer ships out quantities of bags to these hospitals as often as the foundation can afford to assemble and distribute the bags, based on their fundraising efforts.