DELE R. DECOF was a woman of strength, compassion, and wisdom. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, she fought the disease with grace, dignity and enormous courage for eight years. She undertook new experimental treatments with certainty of purpose, resolve, and good humor. And in her long battle, her partner and advocate was her husband, Leonard.

Encountering many common obstacles and frustrations in the treatment process, Adele and Leonard decided to confront cancer in ways that transcended her case. The aim was to advance the state of cancer treatment: to simplify and de-mystify the process, improve the quality of care and thus the quality of life for cancer patients. Improvements in treatment, they knew, would also lead to faster cures. Two weeks before Adele's death, the ADELE R. DECOF FOUNDATION was created.

Adele was one of 40,000 American women who died of breast cancer in 2000. But thanks to her vision, there is new hope for patients everywhere suffering from this disease. The work of the Foundation now carries on the mission begun so personally by Adele, and is dedicated to her spirit of love and caring.