Karen Tanaka was a loving wife to husband, Ray, and mother to son, Chuck, and daughters, Jennifer and Raenette. She worked in the medical field as a medical transcriptionist serving doctors all around Honolulu. Karen would often make a point to give to those in need, donating to various local charities, and she had a particularly soft heart for Hawai‘i’s keiki.
In the summer of 1996, she discovered she had stomach cancer. Determined to fight it, Karen had most of her stomach removed and was preparing to undergo treatment options to eradicate the cancer. However, just a couple of months later, the cancer had spread throughout the rest of her body ending her battle on October 3, 1996. She was 44.
Vowing to Stop Cancer
On the 20th anniversary of her passing, friends and family would like to take the opportunity to continue Karen’s legacy of helping others in the community and her wish to find a cure for cancer. In honor of Karen, we would like to help the Univerity of Hawai‘i Cancer Center fund research specifically directed towards finding a cure for stomach cancer.
Your donation through this page will directly support stomach cancer research. Stomach cancer receives only a small percentage of the National Cancer Institute’s funding, yet it is the fifth most common form of cancer and the third deadliest in the world. Every little bit helps in the lives of those who have been and will be impacted by this disease.
Make a Gift
Questions? / More Information
If you would like to learn how you can support UH students and programs like this, please contact us at 808 376-7800 or send us a message.
