Our Story

In November 2012, Dallas Symphony Orchestra principal trumpet Ryan Anthony had just completed a guest appearance with Canadian Brass and wasn’t feeling well.  After the concert, Ryan said he felt like his entire body was “jangling” as he ran off-stage. The following week, Ryan was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a terminal cancer of the bone marrow.

During his treatments, Ryan was overwhelmed with calls from trumpet players all over the world. Each one asked what they could do to help, and Ryan jokingly started saying “we’ll all play a concert when I am healthy again and we’ll call it cancer blows.” As the weeks went by, the joke solidified into a real event with an impressive guest list. Soon Ryan and Niki realized it could be more than just something for fun but could be used to raise awareness and money to further the research that helped give their family a future.

Ryan’s hope was to survive long enough to see his children graduate from high school. Unfortunately, Ryan was not able to make that goal, passing away in June of 2020, just three days before their oldest child graduated. But his tenacity created The Ryan Anthony Foundation, and his spirit lives on within it.