Charlie Daniels' Journey Home Project funds groundbreaking cancer research at Vanderbilt
Christmas came early to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center recently when Charlie Daniels’ The Journey Home Project donated $50,000 to the facility to help U.S. military veterans battling cancer. Through the donation, The Journey Home Project CAR-T Cell Therapy Fund was established to aid in funding care for veterans in need of the groundbreaking cancer treatment at the Nashville, Tennessee, facility.
“I don't know of a more pressing issue in the lives of our veterans than their need for aggressive health care,” said Country Music Hall of Fame member Charlie Daniels, who co-founded The Journey Home Project with his manager, David Corlew. "We at The Journey Home Project are very excited about the prospect of new approaches in the treatment of cancer that our CAR-T cell Therapy Fund advances, and we are committed to supporting it.”
The $50,000 will aid Vanderbilt-Ingram’s stem cell laboratory in the processing of chimeric antigen receptor T cells (known as CAR-T cells) for use in patients at the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System. The treatment uses T cells from the patient's immune system to find and destroy cancer cells. The donation will also be used to enhance software to coordinate the collection, processing and administration of CAR-T cells.
“I'm excited that The Journey Home Project will now become a part of this wonderful program that will help our veterans,” Corlew said.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Charlie Daniels' Journey Home Project funds groundbreaking cancer research at Vanderbilt
