As we continue to deepen our roots within various communities and organizations, we are creating lots of buzz around what our unique non-profit does to celebrate clinical trial participants. At the core of Greater Gift, it isn’t just what we do but who we do it for, and that is the patient.
The patient, or the #medicalhero, is a contributing pioneer to many of the medicines and devices being brought to market today and tomorrow. Without someone making the brave, important decision to participate in a clinical trial we would not have accomplished such an advancement in medicine. In the 1980’s, 5-year survival rates for breast cancer were 75% percent. Now, thanks to advances in treatment made through clinical trials, that number is 90% 1 . Similarly, the rates of deaths due to high blood sugar among adults diagnosed with diabetes decreased from approximately 45,000 in the 1990’s to 12,000 in 2010 2.
We are thrilled to co-host the unveiling of a third and final, unique art sculpture that celebrates clinical trial participants. Hero’s Journey™ Art is a national art project sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company to honor clinical trial participants and raise awareness of clinical trials.
The sculpture includes personalized wooden bricks from the entire clinical trial community: patients, family and friends, medical teams, caregivers, others in the research community, and many of you!
The sculpture is over 8 feet tall and weighs approximately 1300 pounds. It houses 320 personalized wooden bricks, with over 75 represented from the Winston-Salem, North Carolina community! Each brick is an individual’s artistic representation of what clinical trial participation means to them.
The mark Hero’s Journey ™ is used under license from the Joseph Campbell Foundation.