- Helen Knoll Foundation 10910 Rim road, Escondido, CA, United States, 92026
- +1 619-933-5320
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Helen Knoll, a devoted wife and mother to two daughters, and a dedicated ER nurse, first discovered she had breast cancer through a self-exam at the young age of 36. After undergoing a lumpectomy and double mastectomy, she was cancer-free for seven years, until the cancer returned and ultimately took her life at the age of 48 in 2006.
After the loss of their mother, Helen’s daughters, Laura and Christina Knoll, feared that developing breast cancer was inevitable. To them, it wasn’t a question of “if,” but “when” they would face it. Seeking guidance from the medical community, they were met with pity, a lack of practical tools, and a “wait and see” approach. This frustration became the driving force behind the creation of the Helen Knoll Foundation. Together with their father David, they established the foundation as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing breast cancer prevention strategies for young women.
Our Impact
Over the past decade, the Helen Knoll Foundation (HKF) has empowered nearly 40,000 young women to prioritize their breast health. We’ve partnered with universities like SDSU, integrating our mission into their programs and student health services. Additionally, we’ve conducted community breast cancer prevention events with local organizations, schools, and colleges.
Our efforts have also reached the political sphere, engaging supportive leaders like State Senator Brian Jones, who are advocating for breast cancer primary prevention legislation within California’s “Every Woman Counts” program.
HKF operates as a 100% volunteer organization. If you are interested in volunteering or participating in our fundraisers, please contact us today!
After the loss of their mother, Helen’s daughters, Laura and Christina Knoll, feared that developing breast cancer was inevitable. To them, it wasn’t a question of “if,” but “when” they would face it. Seeking guidance from the medical community, they were met with pity, a lack of practical tools, and a “wait and see” approach. This frustration became the driving force behind the creation of the Helen Knoll Foundation. Together with their father David, they established the foundation as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing breast cancer prevention strategies for young women.
She inherited her mother’s blond hair and knack for multi-tasking. And if everything goes according to plan, she will be following her mother’s footsteps into the health-care profession.
In many ways, Laura Knoll is her mother’s daughter. So when Helen Knoll died of breast cancer at the age of 48, Laura did as she was taught. She mourned, and then she got to work.
“My mother was always helping people, and that profoundly shaped our family’s outlook on life,” the 24-year-old Knoll said of her mother, an SDSU graduate who was an emergency-room nurse in San Diego. “I think people thought it was pretty strange that a teenager would start something like a foundation, but I really felt like something had to be done.”
During this time, Christina had entered Steele Canyon High School in San Diego. She and her best friend, who also lost her mother to cancer, started a Pink Ribbon Club. They rose over $2000 for local charities as well as the Helen Knoll Foundation, which honored her mother.
Because both girls felt that they were doomed to follow in their mother’s footsteps, the growth of the Helen Knoll Foundation took root. HKF had begun as a non-profit in 2006 after Helen’s passing but in 2009, it took a dramatic turn from a Hospice outreach program to a Breast Cancer Prevention organization for young women. Both of the girl’s fear of getting breast cancer and having the medical profession only offered pity, no tools to deal with the risk and a “wait and see” attitude, was the driving force that changed HKF’s direction.
Helen Knoll Foundation formed a new executive board and created its new mission to stop breast cancer before it started by offering a college outreach program to educate young women like Laura and Christina that they did not have to be victims to an uncertain future but that they could be proactive about their breast health. Students are provided with research based strategies that they could embrace immediately and reduce their future cancer risk. Helen Knoll Foundation partnered with SDSU from which Helen had received her nursing degree. SDSU opened its arms to supporting HKF’s mission through their Nursing program, Women’s Resource Center and student health services.
Over the last 18 years, Helen Knoll Foundation has reached out to nearly 40,000 young women, empowering them to advocate for their own breast health.
This is an exciting time for Helen Knoll Foundation in that pity and “wait and see” just isn’t good enough anymore. According to Dr. Christine Horner, a leading breast cancer prevention MD, 60-70% of a young woman’s future risk of getting breast cancer is determined by current lifestyle choices and that breast cancer is 95% preventable.
HKF would like to shine a light on incredible UCSD research on Vitamin D3. Research and over 200 peer-reviewed papers show that keeping a blood serum level of 40-60 ng/ml can lower the occurrence of breast cancer by 77% and re-occurrence by 50%.
The power of prevention via Vitamin D3 is according to American Cancer Society that 300,00 women will develop breast cancer in 2022. If 77% of women could receive the benefits of Vitamin D3, over 225,000 women’s lives could be saved.
Therefore, it is critical to share current research that shows if a young woman simply changes one negative lifestyle choice, her potential risk of getting breast cancer may be reduced by up to 80%. It is HKF’s mission to share this with as many young women as possible.
Helen Knoll was my wife of 23 years and the mother of our two beautiful young girls aged 18 and 13 when she passed from breast cancer at the age of 48 in 2006. Helen was an emergency room nurse for Kaiser in San Diego and loved her work. She found a lump during a self-exam at the age of 36 and hence the battle began. She had a lumpectomy and eventually had to have a double mastectomy. She was cancer free for 7 years and then lost her battle when it returned full force.
Our oldest daughter, Laura, started college at UCLA less than a month of her mom’s passing. Christina was just beginning her 8th grade year. As Laura worked her way through college, she had opportunities to volunteer at UCLA’s School of Medicine. During that experience, she was exposed to the medical community and her fear of getting breast cancer was palpable. She believed that it was not “if” she would get breast cancer but “when” she would get it. She believed that it was an inevitable death sentence for her. As a father, I decided to use my college degree in biology and research what my daughters could do for prevention of Breast Cancer rather than “wait and see.”
During this time, Christina had entered Steele Canyon High School in San Diego. She and her best friend, who also lost her mother to cancer, started a Pink Ribbon Club. They rose over $2000 for local charities as well as the Helen Knoll Foundation, which honored her mother.
Because both girls felt that they were doomed to follow in their mother’s footsteps, the growth of the Helen Knoll Foundation took root. HKF had begun as a non-profit in 2006 after Helen’s passing but in 2009, it took a dramatic turn from a Hospice outreach program to a Breast Cancer Prevention organization for young women. Both of the girl’s fear of getting breast cancer and having the medical profession only offered pity, no tools to deal with the risk and a “wait and see” attitude, was the driving force that changed HKF’s direction.
Helen Knoll Foundation formed a new executive board and created its new mission to stop breast cancer before it started by offering a college outreach program to educate young women like Laura and Christina that they did not have to be victims to an uncertain future but that they could be proactive about their breast health. Students are provided with research based strategies that they could embrace immediately and reduce their future cancer risk. Helen Knoll Foundation partnered with SDSU from which Helen had received her nursing degree. SDSU opened its arms to supporting HKF’s mission through their Nursing program, Women’s Resource Center and student health services.
Over the last 18 years, Helen Knoll Foundation has reached out to nearly 40,000 young women, empowering them to advocate for their own breast health.
This is an exciting time for Helen Knoll Foundation in that pity and “wait and see” just isn’t good enough anymore. According to Dr. Christine Horner, a leading breast cancer prevention MD, 60-70% of a young woman’s future risk of getting breast cancer is determined by current lifestyle choices and that breast cancer is 95% preventable.
HKF would like to shine a light on incredible UCSD research on Vitamin D3. Research and over 200 peer-reviewed papers show that keeping a blood serum level of 40-60 ng/ml can lower the occurrence of breast cancer by 77% and re-occurrence by 50%.
The power of prevention via Vitamin D3 is according to American Cancer Society that 300,00 women will develop breast cancer in 2022. If 77% of women could receive the benefits of Vitamin D3, over 225,000 women’s lives could be saved.
Therefore, it is critical to share current research that shows if a young woman simply changes one negative lifestyle choice, her potential risk of getting breast cancer may be reduced by up to 80%. It is HKF’s mission to share this with as many young women as possible.
Learn how access to clean water can improve health, boost local economies.
Learn how access to clean water can improve health, boost local economies.
Learn how access to clean water can improve health, boost local economies.