Andrew Lee:
A passion that became a purpose

Finding a path after diagnosis

Andrew Lee was finishing his first year at the University of New Hampshire when he received a diagnosis that changed his life. Driven To Cure’s account places that diagnosis at Massachusetts General Hospital on May 15, 2015. He was 19 and had stage 4 kidney cancer associated with HLRCC.

His doctors referred him to the National Cancer Institute at NIH. In his own account, Andrew describes entering an experimental treatment program and continuing to volunteer for later trials. He wrote that he qualified for a trial at Yale in April 2017, moved to another trial at Georgetown in 2018, and returned to NCI/NIH in early 2019.

Making room for something bigger

Cars were one of Andrew’s passions. Through Driven To Cure, he connected that interest with raising awareness of rare kidney cancers. The organization gave him a way to help others while living through his own treatment.

“I created Driven to Cure to join two of my biggest passions, cars and cancer awareness”

— Andrew Lee, writing on Driven To Cure

His account describes a purpose beyond his own care: bringing attention and research funding to rare kidney cancers. For Andrew, the work was a way to turn a deeply difficult experience toward helping someone else.

The work continues

The source records that Andrew died on April 21, 2019, with loved ones around him. His father, Bruce, then led Driven To Cure. After Bruce’s death in December 2022, others, including Andrew’s mother, Sarah Lee, continued the organization’s work.

Andrew’s story is both a personal account of living with a rare cancer and the beginning of an organization built around helping others. The full story at Driven To Cure includes his own words and the family’s account of what followed.