Our Story

Our Mission: To reverse the underfunded and under- researched nature of brain cancer by funding innovative research on the most aggressive form of brain cancer - Glioblastoma (GBM)

Our Vision: A world where a GBM diagnosis is treatable and curable

 

Our namesake, Knox Martin, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in September 2017. Despite surgeries, setbacks, radiation, and chemotherapy, Knox continued to set goals and live life to the fullest. He traveled, worked, studied, and was a 2020 graduate of the University of Georgia.

Our foundation began less than four months after Knox passed away from an aggressive brain tumor called Glioblastoma (GBM) in December 2020. He was 24 years old.

Despite being first identified in scientific research in the 1920s, there are only four FDA- approved drugs to treat Glioblastoma. Four. In 100 years! For Glioblastoma, the five-year relative survival rate is only 7.2%, and the median survival is only 8 months. These devastating statistics attest to the underfunded and under-researched nature of brain cancer treatments – particularly treatments for Glioblastoma, the deadliest and most agressive form of brain cancer glioma. Few research studies are conducted in aggressive brain cancers because the outcomes are so poor, yet the outcomes remain poor because so few research studies exist. Our goal since the inception of KMF: to end this infinite loop. 

Loved ones of Knox formed this foundation in February of 2021 in his honor and to carry on his legacy. Today, we partner with neuro-oncologists and researchers at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University. Following our Third Annual Night For Knox Fundraising event this past April, KMF surpassed $1M in total fundraising since it's inception only two years ago. Our 2021 & 2022 gifts to Duke were used to fund three FDA-approved clinical trials for brain cancer patients with high- grade glioma – just like the one Knox had.

This year, we will host our First Annual Fall Fundraiser: Golf Against Gliomas benefiting our research partners at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. Our partners at Duke need a steady stream of private funding in order to continue to conduct their clinical trial research. With private funding, they hope to bear enough promising results to receive federal grants worth tens of millions of dollars – grants that will take our clinical trials to a nationwide level.

Thank you. We are thrilled to continue building upon KMF's upward trajectory and exponential growth with the First Annual Golf Against Gliomas Tournament this fall, and we're excited to invite you to join us in our fight against this deadly disease.