Our Story
Paula and Geof Takacs founded the Paula Takacs Foundation for Sarcoma Research in 2010 to fund clinical research and raise awareness for this rare and complex universe of cancers. Paula lost her life to liposarcoma in April, 2014. It is her legacy that we carry on today.
To date, the Paula Takacs Foundation has donated over $1.4 million for sarcoma research through its signature fundraiser, The Sarcoma Stomp, and other fundraising events. The Sarcoma Stomp is one of the largest and most successful sarcoma run/walks in the United States, raising over $250,000 with 1,500 participants in 2019!
Since 2012 our philanthropy has funded the sarcoma research program at Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, NC, helping to offer novel treatments and improve the lives of both adults and children suffering from sarcomas. The Paula Takacs Foundation is currently funding a blood vs. tumor biopsy study (an adjunct study to the sarcoma clinical trial we helped fund at Levine Cancer Institute and Levine Children’s Hospital from 2017-2019), as well as research studies in osteosarcoma and synovial sarcoma. There will also be a new clinical trial funded at Levine Cancer Institute pending approval. To learn more about these projects, please visit https://www.paulatakacsfoundation.org/about-us/our-partner/.
Sarcoma is a cancer of the connective tissue, such as bones, muscles, nerves, fat, cartilage, tendons, and blood vessels. Sarcomas comprise less than 1% of adult cancers, but about 15% of pediatric cancers. Approximately one-half of bone sarcomas and about one-fifth of soft tissue sarcomas are diagnosed in people under the age of 35. The overall relative 5-year survival rate of people with soft tissue sarcomas is around 50%, a statistic that has not changed in many decades.
