The Martin Truex Jr. Foundation announced Friday its new mission to raise awareness of and funding for childhood and ovarian cancer initiatives.
September is the national awareness month of both childhood and ovarian cancers. The foundation has a goal to raise $500,000 to support research of childhood and ovarian cancers. A donor has pledged to match the first $100,000 in donations.
Truex began his foundation in 2007 to help children. Truex and girlfriend Sherry Pollex have become more passionate about helping children with cancer. Pollex was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer in August 2014.
The couple is determined to find less toxic, more effective drug treatments and cures for childhood cancer.
“The damage that these life-saving drugs do to your system is awful and, at the end, there is still no guarantee that you will be cancer free,” Pollex said in a statement. “What will the long-term effects be on these poor kids’ systems 10, 20 and 30 years from now?”