Founded in 2018 by Carmel residents Tim L. and Terry Johnston, F3+R, Inc. (faith, family, fellowship and research) has raised more than $700,000 for the Timothy A. Johnston Fund for Precision Medicine Research at the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center in Indianapolis. The Johnstons want to increase the total to $1 million by the end of 2026.
“The goal of this research is to think about cancer differently,” said Amber Senseny, executive director of advancement at IUSCC. “Instead of choosing appropriate treatments based on the cancer’s location in the body, this program instead seeks to look at each patient’s cancer individually. The goal is to determine what is driving that particular cancer at that particular moment in time and match an existing drug that will be an effective treatment,”
The treatments help people with solid tumor cancers live in remission.
When their son, Tim A. Johnston of Westfield, an otherwise healthy 38-year-old husband and father, was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, the Johnstons founded F3+R, Inc., so that more families could benefit from the types of treatment their son was receiving.
“Terry and I wanted to do something specific for Tim’s gene mutation,” Tim L. Johnston said. “And they asked us to do something bigger, which would not just (benefit) lung cancer research but fund precision cancer research as a holistic perspective, so it would be for any hard tumor cancer.”
The Johnstons were impressed with their son’s oncologists, Dr. Larry Einhorn and Dr. Bryan Schneider at IU Health, and their involvement in the precision genomics program at IUSCC. The doctors are part of a team that meets weekly to discuss patient treatment plans and best practices based on past research and available medications.
Under the care of Einhorn and Schneider, Tim A. Johnston’s first round of treatment gave him more than five years in remission. When his cancer came back last year, the team at IUSCC immediately knew the next targeted treatment to give him. He is now in remission once again.
“As difficult as it is to have somebody in your family with Stage 4 cancer, learning to live with cancer and focus on life versus the cancer, that’s the way Tim lives his life. You wouldn’t know he’s got Stage 4 cancer,” Tim L. Johnston said.
In partnership with IU Health, the precision genomics program at IUSCC has treated more than 10,000 patients with solid tumor cancers since it was founded in 2013, and each case is used to further IUSCC’s research and advance treatment options.
“F3+R’s goal is to fund research that broadens the impact of the Precision Genomics Program by identifying new targets for precision drugs,” Senseny said. “The more targets that researchers can identify, the more patients they can help.”
To make a general donation, visit f3plusr.com.
Upcoming fundraisers
Registration for the F3+R seventh annual fundraiser is underway. The two-day event will begin with a reception and live and silent auctions 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 22 at The Bridgewater Club, 3535 E 161st St., Westfield. The event will feature a fireside chat with oncologists Dr. Larry Einhorn and Dr. Bryan Schneider and Amber Senseny, executive director of advancement at IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. RSVP required to [email protected].
Limited availability for the F3+R Sept. 23 golf outing can be reserved through f3plusr.com. This includes lunch, golf and an awards and auction social hour.
