Oligodendroglioma is a rare cancer without an existing cure. It belongs to a group of brain cancers called gliomas which are primary cancers. This means they have originated in the brain, rather than spreading from elsewhere in the body.  The standard of care for Oligo has not changed in 20 years. There is an immediate and unmet need for new, more effective treatment.  

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The mission of Our Common Thread is to help raise  $500,000 to fund initial research at Massachusetts General Hospital for new treatments and a cure for Oligodendroglioma.  We are under no illusion about the enormity of this goal .  That is why we are asking for your help, for all the help we can get, from all the people we know and from all the people we are yet to meet. 

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The Clinical Director of the Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital  gets excited when he talks about the future of Oligo research.  He draws pictures and talks about the Krebs cycle and genetic mutations and targets and mouse models and immunotherapy and our body’s response.  I leave his office with a bit of a bounce and it comes home with me as I make plans and talk to people and dream big for my future and the future of patients and families living with brain cancer.