On Jun. 30, 2014, leaders from Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals announced that Char and Chuck Fowler had made a third major philanthropic $6.7 million pledge to support the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. Cancer claimed their 14-year-old daughter, Angie, in 1983. The Fowler’s action inspired an anonymous donor to make a $5 million contribution for adolescent and young adult cancer.

Inspired by the new collaboration and the Fowlers’ generosity, an anonymous donor also made a $5 million contribution to support the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute at University Hospitals (UH) Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. The donor’s gift is anticipated to inspire an additional $5 million in support from the philanthropic community by matching dollar for dollar gifts to Angie’s Institute that range from $25,000 to $1 million.

The Fowlers’ $6.7 million pledge to Case Western Reserve University will support an extraordinary array of state-of-the-art research initiatives designed to develop breakthrough solutions to treat and cure AYA cancers, the leading cause of disease-related death for this age group. Among other activities, the funds will accelerate development of medicines and therapies to stop the spread of tumors in adolescents and young adults; develop unique treatments to cure AYA cancers in a way that reduces chances of recurrence; and apply recent discoveries in MRI technology to the treatment of brain cancer in AYA patients.

In addition, the effort also aims to bring increased focus to immunotherapy initiatives—that is, those that use the body’s immune system to defeat cancer without the sometimes devastating toxicity involved in chemotherapy regimens. Char and Chuck Fowler’s first philanthropic commitment to defeating AYA cancer came in 2007, when they gave $1 million to UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital to support the nation’s first-ever chair in AYA cancer.

Four years later, Char and Chuck Fowler were joined by their daughters and sons-in-law, Chann and Ed Spellman and Holley and Rob Martens, in making a $17 million commitment to create the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute at University Hospitals (UH) Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. Angie’s Institute—fully integrated with University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center—features a dedicated outpatient treatment facility, which opened this spring.