REPORT ANV 2015

Dear friends,

2015 is already behind us, we spent an intense, wonderful and exciting year together.

With this message we wish to thank all the members and supporters that in these first months of activity have believed and allowed the achievement of the first goal.

Below, the initiatives of ANV since March 2015:

The association was presented on March 21, 2015, the purpose of ANV is to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research. The funds raised during this first year we will be donated to the Institute CERMS in Turin (Italy).

In May, together with Vavassori Tennis Academy we organized the tennis tournament “family cup” and a jazz concert.

In October we organized “CORRI PER LA RICERCA” with about 600 participants.

In November ANV with the LIONS CLUB Sarnico Franciacorta organized a meeting to discuss about pancreatic cancer research and about the issues that oncologists face daily to help patients and their families.

In September, in collaboration with Associatione Linea Catartica and Centro di Formazione Musicale Riccardo Mosca, ANV launched the photo contest “UNO SCATTO PER LA RICERCA” that involved people from all over Italy and from abroad (about 1,500 photographs took part at the competition). The best photographs were displayed in an exhibition at the “Casa della Musica” in Palazzolo Sull’Oglio and they were sold to raise funds. At the same time three important musical concerts were organized by the Centro di Formazione Musicale Riccardo Mosca to support scientific research, the last concert “GOSPEL TIMES took place on December 27th.

In parallel ANV helped another American organization, “PanCAN” based in New York, participating at the run/walk on April and taking place in November to the “purple light” to honor people affected by pancreatic cancer.

In the past months, 10 young researchers (from Italy and the US) have contributed to the page “researcher of the month” in our website describing their own lines of research and future perspectives on pancreatic cancer.

Our activities have been supported by the press with the publication of 10 articles in local newspapers.

We are pleased and proud to inform our friends that through the efforts of all of you 66,000 EURO of funding were raised in 2015.

It is an ambitious achievement for a young association like ours, all this has been possible thanks to your amazing support. This funding, together with funds that will be collected in the coming months, will be used to support the work of Dr. Francesco Novelli and Dr. Paola Cappello at University of Turin. They have developed a vaccine to try to fight cancer Pancreatic. The preliminary results of this study are highly encouraging and our and your contribution will help to shed light on this important therapeutic strategy.

The ANV activity 2015-2016 will end on March 2016 when the funds collected will be donated personally to the researchers and we look forward to see you all!

In Italy about 12,500 people every year are affected by pancreatic cancer and only 5-6% of them survive 5 years after diagnosis. The statistics predict that pancreatic cancer will be the second leading cause of cancer death in the coming decades. For this reason, scientific research needs your help in memory of Nadia and of many suffering from pancreatic cancer.

We wish you a Happy 2016!

Thank you very much!

Federica, Ettore, Simona and Gianpiero.