A short video from our family accompanies the picture above which expresses our heartfelt feelings about Dominic and why we started this research fund. You can watch by clicking where it says play.
Dominic Gentile, DVM 1993-2021
Dominic lived an incredible life and was an inspiration to many. He was a role model for his younger brother, Nick, and younger sister, Jamie, who both loved and admired him. He made lifelong friends everywhere he went, and they provided incredible support for him throughout his illness. We are forever grateful for their compassion. We have been amazed at the number of people who have told us stories of how he touched their lives. He accomplished so much within his short life. In 2021 alone, he graduated, practiced veterinary medicine for several months, and married the love of his life, his wife Alex. Those events shone brightly through his illness. Tragically, we lost Dominic on October 29, 2021.
Our son, Dominic, was diagnosed with metastatic Ewing’s Sarcoma when he was 25 years old. Ewing’s Sarcoma is a very rare cancer of the bone and soft tissue. There are approximately 200-300 new diagnoses each year, mostly in children and adolescents. Unfortunately, Dominic’s disease was metastatic at diagnosis, so his survival rate was about 30%. Because the disease is so aggressive, the primary treatment is highly intensive. It has not changed much during the past several decades. It consists of multiple cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs given together, surgical resection when able, and often radiation therapy. Dominic had all three.
He received outstanding care at the University of Iowa Holden Cancer Center, a designated Sarcoma Center of Excellence. For this reason, we are helping fund research there. The hope is that the research will both improve outcomes for patients and decrease side effects of treatment with the goal of finding a cure for Ewing’s Sarcoma. The research study, led by Dr. David Gordon MD PhD, is working toward clinical trials with new drugs that target the cancer cells directly. Dr. Gordon has a brief “Thank View” video link here: Watch Video .
On October 21, 2023, we held the first annual Dominic Gentile Memorial Golf Outing. Through the generosity of those involved, we were able to raise $22k of net proceeds that were donated to the research fund. With this addition, we reached our goal for the year, putting us at a grand total of $136,263 for 2023. The Dominic Gentile DVM Sarcoma Research Fund is now a permanent endowment!
Through this charity, we honor the strength Dominic showed throughout his fight, as he never gave up and did it with remarkable courage and grace. He was, and is, an inspiration to many. Thank you in advance for any donations. Your support represents the best in human compassion, and we see it as a statement of Dominic’s effect on those whose lives he touched.
We love and miss him dearly.
Jim and Maureen Gentile
If you are interested in making a recurring donation, please follow this link. Contact Taylor.Reyhons@foriowa.org if you have questions.
NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity working to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.
This year’s annual golf outing event was a very successful event. We received well over $30,000 in donations for this year’s event. Our accumulated total donations since the fund has been started will now reach over $237,000. These are just the actual donations and as mentioned at the event this does not include the investments made by the Iowa Center for Advancement Foundation.
We had approximately 96 attendees this year and we are very thankful. There were so many returning people and some new ones that came this year and that was so good to see. We hope you enjoyed the day starting with bagels, donuts and coffee for the pre-golf registration with cigars for the course along with post-golf dinner and the prize raffles, which are so much fun. We are trying very hard to make each outing an enjoyable one, to reconnect with friends and family and to keep Dominic’s memory in our hearts.
A challenge appeared this year bringing a nor’easter upon us, but everyone came except for a few people who were unable to travel due to flooding at the shore. It showed the importance of the event. Remarkably the heavy rain held off when golfing started until the last golfers came back. This was no coincidence.
We thank each of you most sincerely for your generosity. As mentioned at the event, funds were used in 2025-2026 to help support the research study on Ewing Sarcoma that was published in the Journal Oncogene this year by Dr. David Gordon et.al. 2026. Important research continues to move us forward.
As also mentioned at the event, Dominic’s cousin Dante created a beautiful website for information about Dominic, our cause, and Golf Outing Registration each year. It can be found at www.liveextraproject.com. It is a great way to pass along information about the fundraiser and the research fund to others.
We will announce next year’s golf date later in the spring so you can mark it on your calendars!
With this ongoing charity, we honor Dominic and endeavor to create a legacy of kindness and hope for patients with sarcoma. We must persevere!
4 days ago by Shaina SpencerThis year’s annual golf outing was another extremely successful event, certainly because of everyone’s support. We received over $22,000 in donations just from this year. Our accumulated total since the fund was started has now reached over $193,000.
We had approximately 108 attendees this year, and we cannot thank them enough. There were many new people and that was so good to see. We hope everyone had a really good time. We want to make it an event that people look forward to each year to see family and friends and to keep Dominic’s memory in our hearts.
Shortly after the golf outing we traveled to Iowa and were able to visit with Dr. David Gordon MD, PhD. He gave us a personal tour of his laboratory. We were able to see Ewing Sarcoma cells directly under a microscope. He also gave us a personal lecture that he has given at conferences with several avenues that are being explored for future treatments. There are a lot of reasons to have hope. There is a picture above with us and Dr. Gordon in his lab. There is also a picture of us in front of the “Wall of Donors” acknowledging our support of cancer research.
We want to also mention the picture above with Jordan Paley holding a picture of Dominic. On the day of this picture, she ran the New York City marathon for charity, and she did it in Dominic’s honor. It is an example of the virtuous character of Jordan and the effect Dominic had on people.
Saturday September 26, 2026 has been confirmed for this year's Research Fund Golf Outing. Please reserve the date and share it with others who might want to support this most important effort.
Again, we thank each of you most sincerely for your generosity. We believe it will be very important to help with the treatment of sarcoma. With the new knowledge becoming greater on the molecular level, we hope that soon this will replace the prior therapies, with better results and lower adverse effects and someday a cure!Please pass along information about the fundraiser and the research fund to anyone you think might want to participate in or support this in any way. Spreading the word helps and is very much appreciated!
With this ongoing charity, we will continue to do our small part to hopefully make life better for future patients. We honor Dominic by continuing to grow a legacy of hope for the patient’s fighting sarcoma and those future patients yet to be affected by this terrible disease.
The Gentile Family
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