Toby Keith died from stomach cancer. Why that should spur changes to how we fund research.

Country music legend Toby Keith battled stomach cancer, a rare and often-fatal form of the disease, for two years before losing his fight this week.

Keith was, of course, a 62-year-old white male, but his death from a form of cancer that disproportionately affects people of color highlights the need to funnel more charitable dollars toward this underfunded area of oncological research.

Researchers, for example, found that – between 2014 and 218 – federal dollars predominantly funded research of cancers more common in white people compared with cancers more common in people of color, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The bulk of federal cancer funding goes toward breast cancer research. The National Cancer Institute estimates that $558 million went to breast cancer research in 2021, compared with a paltry $15 million allocated for stomach cancer research the same year.

That means about 37 times more federal dollars go toward breast cancer research than to stomach cancer research. This disparity in funding exists even though the five-year relative survival rate for those with stomach cancer is a dismal 33% compared with 91% for breast cancer.

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Donors can help offset disparities in funding cancer research

This disparity has existed for years but presents an opportunity for givers. As the National Institutes of Health reports, “The cancers that appear to be the most consistently underfunded across the different metrics are bladder, esophageal, lung, oral, stomach, and uterine cancers.”

This information suggests – in honor of the late “Red Solo Cup” singer – that it’s time for givers interested in cures to lift up a cup and use it to collect money for underfunded oncological research, especially in light of the alarming rise in early onset gastrointestinal cancer diagnoses.

Cancer is striking more young adults

As cancer increasingly afflicts people earlier in life, it’s critical that researchers in underfunded areas receive the money they need to solve this conundrum. This is particularly true as Americans achieve milestones – like marriage, homeownership, pregnancy – later in life.

God forbid that a daughter who marries later in life never has the children she hoped for because she succumbs to uterine cancer – or that a father who so desperately wants to meet his first child doesn’t get the chance because he succumbs to cancer.

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Even Keith left this earth far too soon. Though his cancer diagnosis wasn’t technically early onset, the “Don’t Let the Old Man In” singer likely would’ve had many more years of songwriting, entertaining and fishing with his granddaughter Hensley if it weren’t for his cancer.

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DonorsTrust givers, meanwhile, are trying to give people more time with the ones they love. They're stepping up and filling the gap where funding for cancer research falls short. That means grants to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where doctors treat more patients with gastric cancer than any other cancer center in the country.

What’s more, the DonorsTrust community – made up of more than 500 philanthropists committed to conservative principles – more than quadrupled gifts to cancer-related charities from 2019 to 2020 and gave five times as many charitable dollars to cancer-related charities from 2021 to 2022, excluding generous gifts to a New York-based cancer-research laboratory.

One thing’s for sure: If donors step up to play a part in funding more cancer research, everyone at greater risk of succumbing to underfunded types of cancer will one day have a better chance of living a long, happy life rich in milestones – and plenty of fishing trips with “Beer for My Horses” playing on Bluetooth.

Carolyn Bolton is communications and marketing director for DonorsTrust, a mission-focused giving account provider. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Toby Keith's death from cancer exposes need to better fund research