John and Alexis Hess, pictured above. John and Alexis both died young of Cancer; John was 19 and Alexis was 3.  

OUR PURPOSE

The Hess Cancer Foundation, Inc. (HCF) was established for the following purposes:

• To provide financial assistance to families that lose a young child to cancer and aren't financially prepared for it.
• To help the community see that there is a real need for this type of help.
• To encourage fitness as a way to fight and prevent cancer. Our slogan is "fitness for the fight".

 OUR STORY

HCF was founded in April of 2005 by Travis Hess. Travis' life and the life of his family has been very affected by cancer. Over the years, he has watched grandparents, aunts, and uncles die of cancer. He watched his younger sister successfully battle breast cancer at 32. His lost his father at age 49 and one of his brothers at age 19; both dying very young with cancer. 

Hitting even closer to home, Travis is also a cancer survivor, and two of his four children have been diagnosed with cancer at very young ages.  His daughter Alexis  died at age 3 with a rare childhood cancer. When Alexis died, Travis and his wife Sherry didn't have life insurance for Alexis and were financially unprepared. They were still making payments on medical bills. They wondered how they would ever pay for the funeral and burial of their little girl. It was then that Travis and Sherry began receiving donations from friends and family. They received $1,000 from an anynomous donor. 

Travis and Sherry were both overcome with a feeling of gratitude; they wanted to help someone, just like others had helped them. During 2005, HCF teamed up with TriUtah and the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and put on the 'Echo Challenge Triathlon'. Part of the proceeds of this triathlon were donated to HCF.

After the Echo Triathlon, HCF was finally in a positon to help a family in need. HCF worked closely with Primary Children's hospital to find the family that needed help the most. In December of 2005, Primary Childrens Hospital contacted HCF to let them know that a local family from West Valley had just lost a young son to cancer. This family needed financial help; they had no life insurance on their son. When HCF learned about this family, they were able to assist the family with funeral-related expenses. Since then, HCF has successfully helped 4 families that have found themselves in the same situation. 

THANKS to the Supporters of the Hess Cancer Foundation: