Last week marked an entire year since we lost Aretha Franklin, and her loved ones and fans continue to mourn her loss.
The Spin reports that the singer’s estate launched a fund that will research pancreatic cancer, which is what she had. Aretha Franklin Fund for Neuroendocrine Cancer Research will continue to research what causes cancer, especially the rare one that took Franklin’s life.
The type of pancreatic cancer the legendary singer suffered from only happens in about 7% of cases. Apple CEO Steve Jobs also suffered from this illness.
“A lot of the work we fund is basic science in the laboratory, learning why these tumors grow and spread. We don’t know all the answers about that. Researchers are trying to understand these tumors at a cellular level and—with some of the treatments available—why some patients respond and others do not,” the head of Boston’s Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF), Elyse Gellerman, said.
The fund launched by Aretha Franklin’s estate is a partnership with a Detroit-based company entitled the Women’s Informal Network and the NETRF
