I feel for you, respect your support for this cause, and your view, but having lost my Mom in 1982 to cancer, there have been way too many rides & walks since then, with not very much to show.
Polio was cured, TB was cured because we didn't have "big pharma," who are in business to keep selling drugs rather than finding a cure
I'm sorry to hear about your friend, and being a dog lover understand that loss too!