Patients and doctors unite to cure Kidney Cancer

The Kidney Cancer Research Alliance (KCCure) is a grassroots organization of patients, caregivers, doctors and medical researchers dedicated to curing kidney cancer through increased funding that accelerates research.

Dena Battle talks with Joyce and Robin about her story and how she and several doctors came to found KCCure.

Her husband Chris Battle, a former Capitol Hill administrative aide, and partner at Adfero Group, fought kidney cancer for four years. He and his wife, Dena, a principal at the lobbying firm Capitol Counsel, detailed his struggle with the disease in a blog called The Kidney Cancer Chronicles, which was at times funny and irreverent and also heartbreaking.

Chris Battle’s former boss, then-Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., remembered his aide as a pioneer in digital communications, an innovator who brought his knack for humor-infused storytelling to his fight against cancer.

“He has been very open in sharing his struggles, his battle and what his family has been going through and has touched thousands upon thousands who have followed his blog,” Hutchinson said Thursday. “That is a real lasting legacy: his personal strength and sense of humor he demonstrated at a very difficult time.”

Jeff Mascott, Adfero’s managing partner, agreed that Battle’s gift with the written word had made him a celebrity of sorts in the kidney cancer community.

“Because Chris is such an amazing writer, and he and Dena have done so much research on their own, his blog has had a much larger impact than anybody realizes,” Mascott said.

Dena has banded together with Dr. Hans Hammers, Chris' physician, to build upon the community that Chris created and find a cure.