The Cancer Research and Life Foundation (CRLF) is a publicly recognized 501(c)3* non-profit organization based right here in Orange County (OC) with a priority to address the needs of cancer patients and their families.
Our mission is to improve patients’ response and quality of life through an offering of multiple programs and delivery of cancer therapies in both conventional and research settings. Patients reach out to us from all over the world to seek support. We promote access to the most meaningful therapeutic paths for patients with unmet necessities by providing tools and accommodating their needs, whether it be medical, travel, recommendations, etc.
The CRL Foundation is unique in providing cancer patients with immediate help, wherever they are in their journey, by providing education and guidance, access to research-based treatments, and beyond. That is why every patient who seeks our help finds a meaningful solution in an otherwise world of hopelessness. Ultimately with better services to the patients and expansion of their quantity and quality of life, we can also reduce the cost of care in the health care system and have a more productive and healthy society.
Our Goals
Goal #1: Educate cancer care providers and application of translational research to the clinics (through precision oncology)
There are currently many foundations that promote either (a) research in cancer, or (b) supporting cancer patients by providing educational tools and therapies. Many foundations, including American Cancer Society (ACS) and Lymphoma Leukemia Society, raise hundreds of millions of dollars every year as generous donors, family offices, and even other public foundations donate to their cause.
Here is what CRLF does differently: First and foremost, it educates the providers. For example, certain foundations focus on patients’ needs, either educational or treatment, while other foundations only focus on the research in oncology. What people do not commonly see is a foundation that tries to address the most critical link between these elements of care, and that is the driver of the patients’ care, the providers.
One of the most important aims of CRLF is to promote precision oncology where options are provided to the providers to treat their patients, and where patients can make informed decisions about their options. In this area, CRLF is able to support the translational research in the field in which our clinics are aiming to
accomplish.
Goal #2: Educate the public and providers about options of care to a patient with advanced cancer
In the next five years
- Oncologists who are the closest caregivers to the patients are educated about the options they have. This goal is planned to be executed by the establishment of a multidisciplinary fellowship program that is pending CME approval and is provided to oncologists all across the U.S. through webinars and presentations. This educational activity requires 24 months of training and consists of 12 modules. The details of this educational platform will be provided upon request.
- Patients are to be educated about the options they have through social media, lectures, conferences, and other public events.
- Donors to other foundations get educated about the options they have for their funding through Orange County Community Foundation and other organizations.
Educate and provide meaningful options
- To donors to support what they see as relevant to the patient and their true needs
- To patients, to be able to accomplish better outcomes
- For providers to be able to offer better therapies
Goal #3: Improve patients’ quality of life and improve patients’ emotional burden
- Reduce patients’ emotional and spiritual burden by supporting them to have better access to their choices
- Increase the patients’ “awareness” of the therapies that are customized for their care
- Cover all patients’ care covered in the State (in concert with their choice of options) if the patient is terminal.
Goal #4: Cancer rehabilitation facility
- Establish a facility with a group of patients that would function as a cancer nursing home which could accommodate people without sources of housing and support. (Many patients have lost their hope when they have advanced cancer and cannot afford a living, let alone access to therapy at a preferred or available location.)
- We have been able to provide this option in a small sample for the ones who travel across the country or state and reside in the housing we provide close to the clinic. They are treated, and many of them recover! We would like to see this accommodation expand.
Goal #5: Preventive Oncology
- Provide genetic testing and screening for patients’ relatives and families at risk
- With cancer becoming an epidemic in the U.S. and the world, we are in vital need of having the necessary tools to test and provide preventive measures to normal individuals at significant risk. (We do this in the smaller sample in our clinic, but these tests are expensive.)