Billy was diagnosed with Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma in October of 2016. At the time of his diagnosis, he was commuting to Oakland University for classes and working at Hawk Hollow Golf Course and Paramount Coffee as an intern. For over seven months he had been dealing with rib pain, which he thought was a golf injury. It wasn’t until his lung had collapsed from the 17cm tumor that we found out it was cancer. He started treatment in early November on a very aggressive chemo, followed by many weeks of radiation. By the summer of 2017 he was worn out from treatment and not doing much of anything. We are so thankful to his boss Steve Morris for encouraging him to get back into the game of golf and coming back to his job as an intern at Paramount Coffee. It was just what Billy needed to lift his spirits. By December of 2017 we found out the cancer had spread. He started back on chemo in January and had his first radiation treatment on the new area the day before he died on February 13, 2018. I remember him being wheeled out from his treatment with a thumbs up and a huge smile on his face. No one could believe his mood that day. He told me he was so excited because by the end of the week he was going to be able to eat again. Only twice during the 15 months after his diagnosis did I hear him say, “Why me?”
The week before he died, we had started planning the second annual Hundt Strong golf outing in support of cancer research.
So here we are 6 years later doing just what he wanted to do. Billy is blessed to have a very large family and an even bigger circle of friends. We have hosted a 216-person golf outing each year since his death at Hawk Hollow.
To date we have raised over $90,000 for childhood cancer research.
Last year, we raised over $26,000 to the "Pillsbury Bakeoff of Mocetinostat vs Entinostat" which helped create validation to continue cc-TDI's work on Entinostat in reducing the levels of the cancer protein, PAX3::FOXO1. Entinostat, the drug we helped fund, is being used in a cooperative group, is in development for a phase II clinical trial.
This year, funds are currently directed to support cc-TDI’s current research project priorities including rhabdomyosarcoma.