The Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund

What began as an impromptu fundraising group comprising Brian's friends, family members and NFL teammates is now a thriving nonprofit organization that has raised more than $6 million for cancer research since it kicked off in 1970.

Brian deeply loved Joy's sister Carol, who is afflicted with cerebral palsy. Because of the special bond they shared, the Piccolo Fund also has always been proud of its support of Clearbrook Center for the Developmentally Disabled, where Carol lives and works.

The first fund-raising event was an annual golf tournament that was a favorite among celebrities and fans alike and went on for 26 years. Then, in 1989, Brian's daughters and their friends established Brian's Run, a family event held every Father's Day until 1998, when the fund's 28-year history of special events came to an end.

Meanwhile, the research supported by the fund has made a difference in the lives of many cancer patients. The cancer that killed Brian, a rare form of of embryonal cell carcinoma, used to be incurable; today, it has a cure rate of better than 50 percent. And thanks to the millions of dollars raised by the Piccolo fund to support testicular cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, this cancer -- which is related to the disease that took Brian's life -- now has a 95 percent cure rate.

With those victories, in 1991 the Piccolo family and fund board shifted their efforts to a new challenge: finding a cure for breast cancer. They started directing funds to Chicago's Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in 1991, and three years later, Rush established the Brian Piccolo Endowed Chair for Cancer Research with the goal of finding new treatments -- and, ultimately, a cure -- for breast cancer.

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