00. Dev Fall 05.indd - UNM Foundation

in Planned Giving
Celebrating Children, Overcoming Cancer:
The Julie Ann Look Fund
By Jennifer Bayley
How would you respond if a child close to you
had cancer? How could you make a difference for
families who face this news? The Julie Ann Look Fund,
benefiting UNM’s pediatric oncology division,
responds to the needs of children and families facing
a fight with childhood cancer.
Julie’s Story
Born in 1968, Julie Ann Look was an energetic
infant, active and happy. When the U.S. Air Force
called her father, Hunter, to serve in Korea without his
family, her mother, Ann, cared for their two daughters
at home. One year later, with Hunter still overseas,
Ann noticed a small blackish mark under Julie’s right
eye. “It looked like she had bumped into something,
like an active toddler might,” recalls Ann. Then a
visiting relative noticed another unusual feature on
Julie’s face—a small lump below her chin.
After a battery of diagnostic tests, doctors shattered
the Looks’ world with a diagnosis of cancer. Julie was
given a 20 percent chance of survival. When the news
reached Hunter, he took the unfamiliar diagnosis of
neuroblastoma to an Air Force doctor in Korea, but the
doctor had never heard of the condition and could
offer little help.
The Air Force moved Hunter and his family to
Tachikawa, Japan, where they could be together and
Julie could receive care for her illness. “She was a
tough cookie,” says Ann of her younger daughter. “She
had radiation treatments and weekly chemotherapy
injections for two years, and she thought that was just
how kids did things.”
At Tachikawa, a doctor named Seymour Grufferman
provided gentle care for Julie. Ann remembers one of
his innovative ideas, the use of an elastic headband that
helped Julie keep her hair for almost two years
of chemotherapy treatments. Three decades later and
a world away, Grufferman and the Looks met each
other again, this time on an elevator at UNM Hospital.
This chance encounter allowed them an opportunity to
reconnect and to share their memories of Julie. “I can
still see her face,” says Grufferman, “and I spent most
of my career researching the causes of childhood
cancer, including neuroblastoma.” He now works at
the UNM School of Medicine as a research professor
in internal medicine, studying childhood Hodgkin’s
disease. Once again, the three are united in the cause
of saving children’s lives.
In the spring of 1972, tests showed that Julie’s
cancer had gone into remission, and the chemotherapy
ended. But the tests had missed a small, hidden tumor,
and the disease soon resurfaced. “We saw the black
area under her eye again,” says Ann, “and we knew.”
Treatments resumed, but this time without effect.
“By October she was gone,” says Ann. Julie was three
years old.
IRAs for UNM
IRAs and other retirement plan
assets can be the most heavily taxed
of all assets left to heirs. Following a
death, these assets may, in fact, subject
beneficiary family members to income
and estate taxes. In some situations,
you can increase the amount passing
to heirs, meet philanthropic goals and
decrease taxes by making a gift of
retirement plan assets to a charitable
organization such as UNM.
Out of concern for all children who struggle to
overcome cancer, Hunter and Ann established the
Julie Ann Look Fund in December 2002, and Ann
designated the fund as the sole beneficiary of her
Individual Retirement Account (IRA).
The Looks chose to support UNM, though their
daughter was never treated here, as a way of reaching
out to New Mexico’s children and their families.
This kindness of heart is characteristic of the couple.
Says Hazel Tull-Leach, UNM Children’s Hospital
executive director of development, “They are the most
caring individuals.” Tull-Leach worked with the Looks
during her service with UNM’s athletics programs.
“They have an annual picnic at their home for the Lobo
Club staff. Their extended family is from every race,
every class—they have unconditional love.”
The Looks established a fifth-year scholarship for
athletes to help them finish their degrees, and Hunter
Look has bequeathed his IRA to this program.
The Looks are not the only contributors to the
Julie Ann Look Fund. In the past three years, 23
individuals and one organization have donated to the
endowment. The largest gift came from an individual’s
bequest. “We didn’t even know her,” Ann says of the
donor, “but we are very grateful.”
Two of the individuals who currently give to the
fund are Dr. Richard Heideman and his wife, Nancy.
Heideman is the director of pediatric oncology at
UNM Children’s Hospital. “I’ve spent my career
caring for kids with cancer, and I know first hand
how research has improved the survival of these
children,” he says. Heideman has named the Look
Fund as a beneficiary of his estate.
Heideman has good reason for his confidence.
Clinical and research elements of the pediatric
oncology program were instrumental in gaining the
recent National Cancer Institute (NCI) Designation
for UNM’s Cancer Research & Treatment Center.
Only 40 hospitals nationwide have received NCI
status, and UNM’s is the only cancer care center in
the state to hold this designation.
An Essential Endowment
The Look Fund is the only endowment that
benefits the pediatric oncology division, and the
Looks and Heidemans welcome additional support.
“This fund is essential because it can help us compete
with what other states offer their doctors,” says
Heideman. “Most of the nearby state universities,
including those in Oklahoma and Texas, have
pediatric oncology endowments of $1.5 to $2 million.
Thanks to the Look Fund, we now have an
endowment, valued at close to $80,000.”
The current endowment level, though, does not
allow the pediatric oncology division a safety net
for the professionals it recruits. When legislative
funding shifts, as it often has, the division must
scramble to cover expenses. Increasing the Look Fund
will help UNM to attract and retain the most talented
specialists in the field by providing them with secure
employment opportunities.
In addition, investment income from a robust
endowment will support frontline research into new
treatment options. Great promise prevails on the
horizon of children’s cancer research, as evidenced by
its past successes. In the early 1970s, just after Julie
Look was diagnosed with cancer, these children had
only a 20 percent overall survival rate, but today the
cure rate has jumped to nearly 80 percent.
What has fueled this level of success? According to
Heideman, one answer is participation in clinical trials,
in which 60 to 80 percent of kids with cancer enroll.
“These research-driven trials gradually adjust our best
practices, using the most recent data and treatment
regimens,” Heideman says. “The trials take more work
than treatment alone because of the reporting necessary
to pass on the results, but the patients do better.
We have learned how to use our medications more
effectively. Each increment of progress is built
on knowledge gained from earlier studies.”
Increased research into childhood cancer is
important for at least three additional reasons.
First, pediatric cancer is the second most frequent
cause of death in kids after accidents. Although the
overall cure rate is now almost 80 percent, success
rates vary widely among children with different types
of cancer. Research into leukemias, for example, has
been heavily funded, and cure rates are now as high
as 85 percent. But some brain, soft tissue and bone
tumors, and advanced neuroblastoma, on the other
hand, still have cure rates of less than 20 percent.
Second, asks Heideman, “Should we be satisfied
with 80 percent?” Additional research funds offer hope
to all children working to overcome cancer. Says Ann,
“We want to give them all a fighting chance.”
Third, research into children’s cancer benefits
adults as well. For example, bone marrow transplants,
pioneered with children, now offer an additional
treatment option for people well beyond the age of 18.
Enlarging the Look Fund will allow pediatric
oncology to generate seed money for specially focused
research projects beyond what it is currently able
to accomplish.
Survival Isn’t Enough
Even after a cure, however, many survivors of
childhood cancer face additional challenges. Known
as Young Enduring Survivors (YES), they must adjust
to the long-term effects of both their illnesses and
treatments. These obstacles may include:
• Learning difficulties
• Hearing loss
• Low bone density: osteoporosis at a young age
• Diminished heart and lung capacity
• Increased chance for cancer later in life
This year, the UNM pediatric oncology program
established the YES Clinic to screen and support the
needs of children who have survived cancer. The clinic
focuses on disease prevention and health education.
Hunter and Ann Look support UNM’s pediatric oncology
division in their late daughter’s name.
Vital research supported by the clinic will allow
doctors to adjust treatment regimens more effectively,
protecting patients’ quality of life beyond the course
of cancer itself. As The Julie Ann Look Fund grows,
Heideman would like to use part of its proceeds to
support this important research. Says Heideman,
“Survival isn’t enough.”
Looking Ahead
Augmenting the Julie Ann Look Fund can make
a significant difference for the already successful
pediatric oncology division. A vigorous endowment
would give the division a safety net for its current and
future physicians and spur additional cutting-edge
research. Ann puts it simply: “Help us help the kids.”
If you would like to contribute to the Julie Ann
Look Fund or learn more about IRA bequests
or other forms of planned giving, please contact
Susan Morrison, director of planned giving, at
susanmm@unm.edu or (505) 277-9604. For
interactive information online, please visit our
Web site, at http://plannedgiving.unm.edu.
3