Kate MacIntyre Foundation

The Kate MacIntyre Foundation was created by Kate MacIntyre and her husband Peter Macon a few weeks before she died.  The Foundation was created with gifts from family and friends and is an approved nonprofit. The primary goals of the foundation will support programs at the Lineberger Cancer Center at UNC which:

• Support lung cancer patient advocacy.

• Encourage the participation in clinical trials.

• Provide mentoring of young professional women interested in the health care profession

At this time, the foundation has approximately $20,000 in assets.  The Board of Directors plans to launch an initial fundraising campaign later this year when specific projects are identified. It is anticipated that the foundation will continue to aggressively expand its assets for distribution.

Background on Kate 
Kate died on October 22, 2007 after a courageous battle with non-smoking related lung cancer. In early 2005 she experienced vague but persistent symptoms- hot flashes, fatigue and pain in her chest. There could have been any number of explanations- menopause, among them - but the diagnosis of lung cancer she received in April of that year was totally unexpected. A non-smoker and married for only two months, Kate knew she faced some serious challenges.

After undergoing immediate whole-head radiation for brain metastases, she and her husband, Peter Macon, traveled from Davidson to UNC Chapel Hill to enroll in a clinical trial of the drug Erbitux. She first took Erbitux paired with Carboplatin, followed by an additional two months of Erbitux alone. She celebrated the start of 2006 in remission and began taking Tarceva in July, 2006.

Kate was a strong advocate for clinical trials and she served on a panel for a symposium presented by the UNC School of Public Health on “Driving the Future of Clinical Trials: Safer Drugs and Faster Approvals.” She also participated in a pharmaceutical video and on a panel on clinical trials at a UNC Lineberger Board of Visitors meeting.

Kate served as the Director of the Downtown Davidson business organization and was responsible for many initiatives and programs in that community including expansion of Christmas in Davidson, Art on the Green, the Farmers Market, and the Public Art Initiative.

If you would like to become involved, please click here.