Press Release

Personal Story of ‘Positivity in the Midst of Loss’ Fuels Commitment to Reverse the Under-Publicized, Under-Researched and Under-Funded Status of Brain Cancer

ATLANTA, GA (March 25, 2024) – Live Big, Love Big™, an advocacy organization formed to drive institutional change for brain cancer, announced today that it has officially launched. The team is passionately focused on accelerating and amplifying the urgency to raise awareness and prioritize funding for brain cancer. Live Big, Love Big is inspired by the life of Jim McAllister, who battled the most aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma (GBM), for two years.

Brain and other nervous system cancer is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. For glioblastoma, the five-year relative survival rate is only 6.9% and median survival is only 8 months. Currently, there are only 4 FDA- approved drugs and one device to treat GBM today.  Treatments and survival statistic for GBM have not significantly changed in more than 30 years.

“Brain cancer is dramatically under-publicized, under-researched and under-funded,” said Tracy McAllister, CEO and Founder of Live Big, Love Big. “We aim to forge partnerships, breakdown silos, ignite conversations and foster new collaborations as we move ahead to make brain cancer a priority. There is such a desperate need for substantially more funding to fuel innovative clinical trials, promising research and forward-looking, transformative treatments,” she said. “The status quo cannot be the best we can do.”

Live Big, Love Big will work alongside several leading nonprofit patient advocacy and funding organizations, hospitals and brain cancer foundations to unite vision and voices to increase awareness, raise funds, and advocate for policy change. “I plan to leverage my 30 years of marketing and business experience where I took companies from zero-to-millions, and now apply that to brain cancer,” McAllister said. “My husband lived a life based on positivity. I am now channeling that mindset and his motto to live big, love big and put my marketing expertise to work to make a difference for brain cancer. I have to.”

Current partnerships include the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS); Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University; American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) and the GBM Foundation. Additional partnerships are forthcoming. 

Live Big, Love Big will attend a number of key advocacy and fundraising events over the coming months. “I look forward to attending Head to the Hill in May with the National Brain Tumor Society,” McAllister said. National Brain Tumor Society is the largest patient advocacy organization dedicated to the brain tumor community in the U.S.  “In Washington, I will advocate for change and significant funding for glioblastoma and all other brain tumors,” she said. “These upcoming meetings with Congress are game changing opportunities to raise our voices and share our hopes for dramatic and urgent institutional change for brain cancer. It’s time.”

“We need breakthroughs—now. Patients with brain tumors and their loved ones are waiting for better treatments, a better quality of life, and cures. Patients, caregivers, researchers, government officials, and health care providers must work together to disrupt the status quo and invest in promising treatments and technology to achieve life-saving outcomes," said Lauren Gainor, Assistant Vice President of Development, National Brain Tumor Society.

Live Big, Love Big will also partner with the American Brain Tumor Association. “From free brochures and webinars to the largest annual national conference for brain tumor patients and their families, the American Brain Tumor Association has served as the champion of the brain tumor community for over 50 years,” said ABTA Chief Mission Officer Nicole Willmarth, PhD. “We provide comprehensive resources to support the complex needs of brain tumor patients and caregivers and fund innovative research in the pursuit of breakthroughs in brain tumor diagnoses, treatments, and care. We welcome Live Big, Love Big.”

The Live Big, Love Big motto carried Jim McAllister throughout his entire life, even while battling glioblastoma brain cancer. “Jim was always smiling and so positive,” said McAllister. “I am passionate about doing something positive, even in the midst of such a huge personal loss for me, my two sons, family and friends. We need a movement for brain cancer that puts and keeps the flat-lined statistics in the forefront of news and conversations so that it is more commonly known how desperate dramatic change is needed for brain cancer.”

About Live Big, Love Big. 

Live Big, Love Big is a brain cancer advocacy organization with a mission to make brain cancer a priority. The organization provides marketing and business leadership to brain cancer foundations, hospitals and advocacy organizations with a focus on collaborations, storytelling and public relations. Within its name – Jim McAllister’s life motto - is a message of hope, love and positivity. It’s a way of living – a mindset - that is simple, yet powerful. Live Big, Love Big is a belief that you can achieve more than you ever expected or what you thought was ever possible by staying focused on positivity.