Our Mission
The mission of Project Peace is to promote hope and peace for families affected by head & neck cancer by providing practical services and offering emotional support throughout the diagnosis, treatment and recovery stages to allow families to focus on what is most important – Winning the battle against cancer.
Origin
After several months of dealing with a chronic sore throat and a multitude of visits to primary care and ENT physicians, Tony Duggan was diagnosed with stage IV Squamous Cell Carcinoma (throat cancer) in July 2013. Upon receiving the news, Tony and his wife Missy were committed to one goal – kick cancer’s butt. Tony and Missy were overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from family, friends and co-workers as they received a number of meals, gift cards, books, magazines, cards and other inspirational messages via Care Pages. Throughout the journey they learned how expensive treatment can be – even with good insurance and also realized it was extremely difficult to maintain a household when Tony is going through a very difficult physical battle and Missy is spending the majority of her time being a care giver and still trying to work.
There were a number of setbacks and scares along the way, but due in large part to the generosity and caring of others, Tony and Missy were able to find “peace” in this chaotic, challenging time and never lost hope. Throughout the year, there were many discussions about what next steps would be after claiming victory over cancer and the couple came to the realization that the best way to show their gratitude for the overwhelming support they received, was to pay it forward.
By raising money and providing emotional support to families facing this daunting battle with cancer, they could possibly help others find “peace.” June 27, 2014, nearly one year after being diagnosed, Tony was pronounced cancer free and Project Peace was born.