Casey DeSantis heard the words "cancer free" after six rounds of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation – while raising three young children.
That was 2022, and Ron DeSantis got to work.
Now Florida is doing something the federal government never could – and the number that just came out of Orlando will make every other governor in America look like they've been asleep.
Florida Just Wrote a $60 Million Check for Cancer Research
DeSantis stood in Orlando Wednesday and announced $60 million in new Florida Cancer Innovation Fund awards for the 2025-26 fiscal year – and simultaneously opened the next application cycle with $70 million available, a $10 million increase over last year.
That's not a one-time gesture.
While Biden's NIH spent four years tangled in COVID bureaucracy and congressional Republicans fought over the debt ceiling, DeSantis was writing checks for cancer research.
Since 2019, Florida has invested more than $1.4 billion in cancer research and treatment – a 175 percent increase from before DeSantis took office.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/2090234830134853823?s=20
In fiscal year 2026-27 alone, the state committed nearly $228 million to cancer research and innovation.
The Cancer Innovation Fund started in 2023 with a modest $20 million investment.
Three years later it's handing out $60 million in a single cycle – and that number keeps climbing.
The grants go to Florida-based researchers, universities, hospitals, and startups pursuing breakthroughs in prevention, treatment, and outright cures.
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, and UF Health Shands in Gainesville are all in the mix.
That's four of the country's top cancer institutions, all getting direct state funding to do the research that saves lives.
Mayo Clinic Is Already Treating Patients at Home Because of This Money
Earlier this year, First Lady Casey DeSantis announced that a Cancer Innovation Fund grant to Mayo Clinic had treated its first patient in the Florida Panhandle – from home.
The program is called Cancer CARE Beyond Walls.
It allows patients – people who can't travel hours for treatment – to receive chemotherapy monitored remotely by Mayo Clinic specialists.
That's not a pilot program on paper.
That's a real person in rural Florida who didn't have to choose between cancer treatment and their job, their family, or a three-hour drive each way.
This is what happens when a governor stops talking about healthcare and starts funding it.
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"Who knows," DeSantis said Wednesday. "One of these projects could have worldwide significance someday."
He's right.
The inaugural Cancer Innovation Fund cycle drew 147 applications and funded 30 projects across 15 Florida institutions – covering breast, brain, colorectal, pancreatic, lung, ovarian, and pediatric blood cancers.
That's not a ribbon-cutting.
That's a pipeline.
This Started Because One Woman Refused to Give Up
None of this would exist without Casey DeSantis trusting her instincts in 2021.
She noticed something wasn't right – not a lump, not a dramatic warning sign – and went to her doctor anyway.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer while her youngest was barely two years old.
She went through six rounds of chemotherapy, surgery, and six weeks of radiation – and came out the other side cancer free.
Then she went back on the campaign trail and said exactly what you'd expect: "Never ever give up, never ever back down."
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Ron DeSantis watched his wife fight for her life while governing the third-largest state in America.
Then he turned that personal experience into a statewide mission – one that now funds nearly 150 projects, supports rural patients who would otherwise go without, and is adding $10 million to its grant cycle every single year.
Nearly 40 percent of Floridians will face a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.
Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the state.
DeSantis isn't waiting for Washington, DC to fix it.
He built the machine himself.
Sources:
- Executive Office of the Governor, "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces $60 Million in Cancer Innovation Awards and Opens $70 Million Application Cycle," flgov.com, August 19, 2026.
- Gabrielle Russon, "State plans to dish $70 million on grants to fight cancer, Ron DeSantis says," Florida Politics, August 20, 2026.
- Executive Office of the Governor, "First Lady Casey DeSantis Announces Florida Cancer Innovation Fund Project Treats First Patient in the Florida Panhandle," flgov.com, February 2026.
- Florida Department of Health, "Florida Cancer Innovation Fund," floridahealth.gov.
- Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program Long-Range Plan, Florida Cancer Connect Collaborative, December 2024.
- Fox 13 Tampa Bay, "Casey DeSantis returns to campaign trail after battle with breast cancer," fox13news.com, May 2022.
