OUR STORY

Rutledge Cancer Foundation was founded in 2011, after 15 year old Carley Rutledge was diagnosed with stage IV Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer. When friends and family learned that patient care and survival rates of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer lagged far behind other age groups, they decided to take action.

For those diagnosed, life during and after cancer can be devastating for a myriad of reasons; interruption of education or career, infertility, chronic health issues, emotional issues, financial stress and many times, secondary cancers as a result of toxic treatments. Patients try to maintain a “normal” life, but suffer from the isolation that cancer brings and the life changing, and often deadly, side effects from toxic treatments. Rutledge Cancer Foundation was started to fill the care and research gap for this underserved cancer population.