Who We Are

Project Periwinkle was founded by Ben Broghammer in 2015, during his junior year of undergrad at Saint Louis University. The summer prior, Ben lost his cousin, Michon Runyon, to stomach cancer when she was just 30 years old. As Ben prepared to head back to school for his junior year, he couldn’t let go of the fact that stomach cancer is diagnosed at late stages in significantly high proportion and the funding at the time was extremely low, even though stomach cancer ranked 5th most common worldwide. He turned his grief into action and decided to start an organization that would change the statistics, doing so by directing every dollar raised towards furthering the mission. Nearly 10 months to the day from when Michon passed away, Project Periwinkle became a reality.

In the years since, Project Periwinkle has funded 8 research programs at 4 cancer centers throughout the United States. Much of this work has enabled research collaborations, has provided resources for initial phases that otherwise wouldn’t have moved forward, and the results have been incredible. From quality of life improvements, to better targeted treatments, enhanced surgical approaches, and greater outcomes, Project Periwinkle has transformed the status quo, showing what is possible, if we believe in it.