Our Founder - Jace Ward

This page was created to share our founder's story, and invite supporters to visit other family funds, learn their stories, and direct gifts towards our research efforts, family support efforts, or any of our family funds.

The Story of Jace Ward

Jace Ward was a young man with a fierce spirit. At just 20 years old, he was building a life: working at a law firm, studying business, making friends, dreaming about his future. But in May 2019, something unexpected happened: he noticed a change in his peripheral vision. What seemed like a small symptom soon became a life-changing diagnosis - DIPG, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a devastating and terminal brainstem cancer.

When the doctors told him, “You have 6-9 months,” his response was both heartbreaking and powerful: “I’m not afraid to die; I’m afraid I won’t make an impact before I do.”

That became not just his mindset, but his mission.

A Man on a Mission

Rather than retreat, Jace pushed forward. He didn’t just fight for himself - he fought for every child, every family, every person who would come after him facing DIPG or similar brain cancers. On the Tough2gether “Meet Jace” page, his mantra is clear: “I can’t die, I’m busy.”

He traveled, advocated, learned, and connected. He researched clinical trials and asked hard questions: when he had a biopsy, he didn’t just accept pain and prognosis - he pressed: “Which trial should I do next?”

He realized that many families don’t have the infrastructure, the support, or the resources to navigate complex cancer trials. So he turned his energy toward building something bigger than himself - a system to help others.

Building Something Bigger: Legacy Through Action

Jace channeled his vision into concrete, systemic change:

He helped launch a patient navigation continuum, bridging gaps in access to care for DIPG/DMG (diffuse midline glioma) patients.

He co-founded the Tough2gether Foundation (along with his parents), to support research, clinical trials, and most importantly, other families fighting.

He insisted on sharing data: in his final wishes, he asked that his brain tissue be donated — “If you don’t [share what you learn from it], I’ll haunt you.”

He advocated at the national level — from Congress to the NIH, he raised his voice. He wanted lawmakers, scientists, and clinicians to see DIPG, to feel urgency, to make the circle bigger.