Turning grief into purpose

Lynn Lippert stands on a mountain top holding a blue banner that reads "HOPE." — Lynn Lippert carried this banner, which eventually included the names of 1,000 people affected by cancer, to 15 mountain tops. Sal Jepson carries forward Lynn's legacy of hope. Photo by Bec Lashley

Full of stamina and determination, Lynn Lippert supported others and did what she loved through 24 years of living with metastatic breast cancer. She died from the disease in 2021. Lippert’s life partner of 39 years, Sal Jepson, feels immense gratitude for the life-extending treatment options Lippert received at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Paying that forward motivates her to give back.

“For Lynn and me, it began in 1997, after she was first diagnosed,” Jepson said.

At that time, Lippert signed up to be part of a clinical trial.

“This was the beginning of the sentinel node study,” Jepson said, referring to sentinel lymph node biopsy. In this procedure, a surgeon removes the first lymph node in the chain of lymph nodes and if it is clear of cancer, no further lymph nodes need to be removed. “Lynn’s surgeon told her that the study probably wouldn’t help her, but it might help someone else.”

When Lippert enrolled in the trial, her care team didn’t think the cancer had spread to her lymph node — but study tests showed it had. Having this information changed how the team treated Lippert’s cancer, a shift that Jepson feels was crucial to extending her partner’s life.

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The impact of a study like the one Lippert participated in continues long after the study ends. A single study becomes part of the story of other studies, nationally and internationally, looking at similar questions from different angles. Ultimately, results from thousands of participants add up to more answers.

Because of such studies, and many willing participants like Lippert, people diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer today have more tools to inform their treatment plans.

“Now they check every sentinel [lymph] node,” Jepson said.

Lynn Lippert and Sal Jepson — Lynn Lippert (left) and Sal Jepson (right) have been staunch Fred Hutch supporters since Lippert's participation in a clinical trial for breast cancer helped guide her treatment. Photo by Leah Nash

Avid mountain climbers, Lippert and Jepson continued doing what they loved through the ups and downs of five cancer recurrences. Through each treatment, they remembered the earlier studies and participants that helped increase options for others, and the couple’s desire to give back and pay it forward grew.

“Lynn benefited so much from the research at Fred Hutch,” Jepson said.

Taking it to the next level

In 2004, Lippert joined Fred Hutch’s Climb to Fight Cancer, carrying a banner that would eventually be filled with 1,000 names of people affected by cancer to more than 15 mountain peaks worldwide.

“Lynn had a never-give-up spirit,” Jepson said. “On the mornings when it was hard, she’d say, ‘Get dressed, and give it all you’ve got.’”

Lippert applied this same attitude to raising money for Fred Hutch.

“Many donations were small but would add up to nearly $100,000 by the end of the year,” Jepson said. “Lynn would always tell people, ‘There’s no small gift. You don’t know if your $5 will be the one to do it, and combined with other gifts, it becomes a large donation.’”

In 2012, the couple established an endowment to fund pilot projects in breast cancer research. They then increased its size through additional fundraising using a Fred Hutch fundraising web page, gifts from their IRAs and a bequest in their estate plan.

“We learned from a researcher that about 90 percent of proposed ideas never get investigated because of a lack of funding,” Jepson said. They wanted to help fill that hole.

“The grief that comes when you lose your person must have some purpose, some use. This is my opportunity to use that grief to spur someone else to keep going and to realize that every dollar counts, even after you’re gone. You don't need lots of money to make a difference.”

— Sal Jepson

Lippert and Jepson appreciated an endowment’s immediacy and longer-term potential as well as the opportunity to have a greater impact through planned giving as members of the Thomas Legacy Society for donors who give through their will, trust or other estate planning vehicle.

“We wanted those young researchers with their brilliant ideas to get funding,” Jepson said. “We also wanted that money to benefit more people for years to come.”

Left to right: Sal Jepson, Dr. Slobodan Beronja, Dr. Zhe Ying, PhD and Lynn Lippert — Sal Jepson (far left) and Lynn Lippert (far right), pose with the scientists whose research into cancer-driving mutations they supported: Drs. Zhe Ying (middle right) and Slobodan Beronja (middle left). Photo courtesy of Fred Hutch Philanthropy

Seeing the impact

Jepson explained how she watched that benefit come to life.

“In one of the first pilot projects that our endowment helped fund with a small grant, researchers found mutations they can now target,” she said.

This pilot study, led by researcher Zhe Ying, PhD, then a postodctoral fellow in the lab of Fred Hutch cellular biologist Slobodan Beronja, PhD, focused on so-called driver mutations, genetic alterations that drive cancer development. While researchers have found upwards of 17,000 mutations in breast tumors, in most of these, it’s not clear which ones are causing the cancer’s formation. Ying’s project identified driver mutations in Pik3ca, a gene involved in many critical cellular functions. His findings support the development of treatments to target these particular drivers and slow cancer growth.

“That’s one of those ways we paid it forward,” Jepson said. “We both liked to give during our lifetime, and with our planned giving going to the endowment, it can hopefully go on forever.”

Since their first donation of $200 in 2005, Lippert and Jepson have contributed nearly $250,000, with others also moved to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to their climbing fundraiser and the endowment they established. Both efforts have accelerated discovery: The climb raised awareness and helped bring research advances to patients, and the endowment continues to fund a new breast cancer pilot study every year — nine so far.

“Lynn was a shameless, tireless fundraiser,” Jepson said. “We traveled the world and were actually in the Antarctic and she came home with 12 emails — she would get money from people that would never share their email with anyone else — and now I'm doing my small part to keep that going.”

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