In April 2008 Debbie Zelman was a forty-year-old mother of three young children, married to a physician, and a practicing attorney with her own firm. Then her life changed dramatically when she learned she had stage IV stomach cancer, her cancer was inoperable and incurable, and she would need chemotherapy for the rest of her life. At the time of her diagnosis, Debbie was told there were very few effective treatment options for advanced stomach cancer because it is not a common cancer in the United States, and her chance of being alive in five years was only 4%. Debbie immediately began to educate herself about this disease and to seek the best available care. She closed her law practice and began the fight of her life. Debbie had a port inserted and began very harsh chemotherapy treatments. She spent months in bed, doctors' offices, hospitals, and getting scans and tests.

As she began to respond to treatment, Debbie decided that she could make a difference in the treatment options for stomach cancer patients by using her education, experience, and contacts in the community. In 2009 Debbie started Debbie's Dream Foundation: Curing Stomach Cancer (DDF) to aggressively and immediately fund research into innovative, progressive, and cutting-edge treatments for stomach cancer to improve the diagnosis and treatment for this disease; to raise awareness about stomach cancer; and to provide information and assistance to stomach cancer patients, families, and caregivers. It is Debbie's Dream that, with increased funding, more treatments for stomach cancer will become available sooner and a cure will be found.