Our Story

HCF was founded in April of 2005 by Travis Hess. Travis’ life and the life of his family has been very affected by cancer. Over the years, he has watched grandparents, aunts, and uncles die of cancer. He watched his younger sister successfully battle breast cancer at 32. His lost his father at age 49 and one of his brothers at age 19; both dying very young with cancer.

Hitting even closer to home, Travis is a cancer survivor, and two of his four children have been diagnosed with cancer at very young ages. His daughter Alexis died at age 3 with a rare childhood cancer. When Alexis died, Travis didn’t have life insurance for Alexis and was financially unprepared. He was still making payments on medical bills, and wondered how he would ever pay for the funeral and burial of his little girl. It was then that Travis began receiving donations from friends and family. He received $1,000 from an anonymous donor.

Travis was overcome with a feeling of gratitude; he wanted to help others in need, just like others had helped him. Soon after that, Travis decided to establish a Public Charity called the Hess Cancer Foundation, Inc., or “HCF”. The primary purpose of HCF is to provide financial assistance to families that have lost a child to cancer and can’t afford a proper funeral. During 2005, HCF teamed up with TriUtah and the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and hosted the ‘Echo Challenge Triathlon’. Part of the proceeds of this triathlon were donated to HCF.

After the Echo Triathlon, HCF was finally in a position to help a family in need. HCF worked closely with Primary Children’s hospital to find the family that needed help the most. In December of 2005, Primary Children’s Hospital contacted HCF to let them know that a local family from West Valley had just lost a young son to cancer. This family needed financial help; they had no life insurance on their son. When HCF learned about this family, they were able to assist the family with funeral-related expenses. As of August 2010, HCF has successfully helped 18 families that have found themselves in the same situation.