When a Navy Commander's toughest mission became his greatest purpose.
Retired U.S. Navy Commander Bill Phillips spent nearly 23 years in naval aviation — flying EA-6B Prowlers and EA-18G Growlers, landing on aircraft carriers, deploying into combat, and serving in strategic roles at the Pentagon. He built a career on compartmentalizing chaos and pressing forward under pressure.
Then, while preparing to retire, he received a stage three colorectal cancer diagnosis. On the same day, his marriage began to fall apart.
His world collapsed — and then it rebuilt itself into something extraordinary.
From Patient to Founder
Phillips entered treatment at Walter Reed and found himself in a dark place. Therapy helped, but it wasn't enough. Through a former squadron mate, he was connected to a life coach who worked with professional athletes. That introduction changed everything.
Where therapy helped him process the past, coaching helped him reconnect to his identity and his future. He began incorporating meditation, breath work, and healthier living into his daily routine. His treatment outcomes improved. His outlook transformed. His quality of life surged.
The KFG Project — Keep F'n Going — was born from that experience. Launched in April 2025, it is a blueprint of everything that worked for Phillips, now offered at no cost to those who need it most.
The Mission
The KFG Project provides year-long professional coaching, integrative healing practices, and retreat experiences to cancer-affected military personnel, veterans, first responders, and adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients and caregivers. Every service is provided free of charge.
Phillips puts it simply: the organization exists to help people navigate survivorship and become better survivors — armed with tools to improve quality of life and reduce the fear of recurrence.
"Cancer is not like healing from a broken bone," Phillips says. "It's something that existed in your body that tried to kill you, and there's always the potential of it coming back. The fear of recurrence is sometimes greater than the fear of beating cancer while you're in it."
Your Dollars at Work
The Kash Foundation's grant has directly supported two active-duty members of the New Jersey National Guard — a cancer patient and his spouse, who serves as his caregiver. The patient, Tom, has been receiving consistent coaching since the grant was awarded and even attended an in-person retreat in Arizona with his coach. His wife is now set up with her own coaching sessions as well, and both are already experiencing the benefits of the program.
Without this funding, Phillips says, the KFG Project cannot attract the caliber of coaches their members deserve. Tom's coach, Rick, actively works with NHL players, UFC fighters, and NFL athletes. He volunteered not only his coaching time but also free breath work sessions available to every KFG member — services he is substantially compensated for outside the program. The grant funding makes that level of quality possible.
Real Lives Changed
One of the KFG Project's first members was the wife of an active-duty U.S. Marine colonel. A brain cancer survivor who had endured multiple surgeries, she experienced crippling scan anxiety with every recurrence check at the two-year mark. After being matched with a coach — a physician's assistant who also shared her Catholic faith — she reported that for the first time, she was able to sleep and stay calm heading into her scans. Her results came back clear.
That story illustrates a core principle of the KFG Project: meeting people where they are. Phillips maintains a diverse roster of coaches from all backgrounds and belief systems so that every member can find a genuine connection. A dedicated coordinator — a licensed therapist — interviews each applicant and pairs them with the right coach from the start.
What Drives Him
One word: grit.
Phillips observed a gap in cancer care firsthand as a patient. He watched young military families wrestle with impossible questions — spouses wondering what happens if their partner doesn't survive, caregivers who are often more stressed than the patients themselves. Young adult cancer diagnosis rates are climbing with no end in sight, and Phillips believes the answer starts with mindset.
"If you work on your mindset — the six inches between your ears — that's your answer right there," he says. "We're going to coach you through it."
His vision, given unlimited resources, is clear: reach every oncology center in the country, hire the best coaches available, and provide this service to every young adult, service member, veteran, and first responder facing a cancer diagnosis. Until then, the KFG Project is growing — already working with the University of Chicago and Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, with Johns Hopkins on the horizon.
Looking Ahead
The KFG Project is approaching its one-year anniversary with serious momentum. Phillips is developing a tech-driven coaching app in partnership with an NHL player, building out survey instruments to generate the clinical data needed to secure hospital endorsements and larger grants, and expanding his team of dedicated coaches and volunteers. Key supporters include Two Circle, a naval aviation consulting company whose CEO — a Marine Corps fighter pilot and cancer survivor — has made personal donations and opened doors to new networks.
Phillips's biggest challenge is one familiar to many founders: time. He is still working full-time at the Pentagon while building the KFG Project, and his goal is to raise enough funding to step into the organization full-time and unlock its full potential. At approximately $500,000 per hospital partnership, the need is significant — and the impact is proven.
Back the Brave
The KFG Project represents exactly the kind of mission the Kash Foundation was built to support: a veteran-founded organization filling a critical gap in care for those who serve and sacrifice. Commander Phillips didn't just survive cancer — he turned the fight into a force for good, and he's not slowing down.
Real change takes real grit. And Bill Phillips has it in spades.
To learn more about the KFG Project, visit kfgproject.org. To support organizations like this one through the Kash Foundation, visit thekashfoundation.com/support.
Retired U.S. Navy Commander Bill Phillips spent nearly 23 years in naval aviation — flying EA-6B Prowlers and EA-18G Growlers, landing on aircraft carriers, deploying into combat, and serving in strategic roles at the Pentagon. He built a career on compartmentalizing chaos and pressing forward under pressure.
Then, while preparing to retire, he received a stage three colorectal cancer diagnosis. On the same day, his marriage began to fall apart.
His world collapsed — and then it rebuilt itself into something extraordinary.
From Patient to Founder
Phillips entered treatment at Walter Reed and found himself in a dark place. Therapy helped, but it wasn't enough. Through a former squadron mate, he was connected to a life coach who worked with professional athletes. That introduction changed everything.
Where therapy helped him process the past, coaching helped him reconnect to his identity and his future. He began incorporating meditation, breath work, and healthier living into his daily routine. His treatment outcomes improved. His outlook transformed. His quality of life surged.
The KFG Project — Keep F'n Going — was born from that experience. Launched in April 2025, it is a blueprint of everything that worked for Phillips, now offered at no cost to those who need it most.
The Mission
The KFG Project provides year-long professional coaching, integrative healing practices, and retreat experiences to cancer-affected military personnel, veterans, first responders, and adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients and caregivers. Every service is provided free of charge.
Phillips puts it simply: the organization exists to help people navigate survivorship and become better survivors — armed with tools to improve quality of life and reduce the fear of recurrence.
"Cancer is not like healing from a broken bone," Phillips says. "It's something that existed in your body that tried to kill you, and there's always the potential of it coming back. The fear of recurrence is sometimes greater than the fear of beating cancer while you're in it."
Your Dollars at Work
The Kash Foundation's grant has directly supported two active-duty members of the New Jersey National Guard — a cancer patient and his spouse, who serves as his caregiver. The patient, Tom, has been receiving consistent coaching since the grant was awarded and even attended an in-person retreat in Arizona with his coach. His wife is now set up with her own coaching sessions as well, and both are already experiencing the benefits of the program.
Without this funding, Phillips says, the KFG Project cannot attract the caliber of coaches their members deserve. Tom's coach, Rick, actively works with NHL players, UFC fighters, and NFL athletes. He volunteered not only his coaching time but also free breath work sessions available to every KFG member — services he is substantially compensated for outside the program. The grant funding makes that level of quality possible.
Real Lives Changed
One of the KFG Project's first members was the wife of an active-duty U.S. Marine colonel. A brain cancer survivor who had endured multiple surgeries, she experienced crippling scan anxiety with every recurrence check at the two-year mark. After being matched with a coach — a physician's assistant who also shared her Catholic faith — she reported that for the first time, she was able to sleep and stay calm heading into her scans. Her results came back clear.
That story illustrates a core principle of the KFG Project: meeting people where they are. Phillips maintains a diverse roster of coaches from all backgrounds and belief systems so that every member can find a genuine connection. A dedicated coordinator — a licensed therapist — interviews each applicant and pairs them with the right coach from the start.
What Drives Him
One word: grit.
Phillips observed a gap in cancer care firsthand as a patient. He watched young military families wrestle with impossible questions — spouses wondering what happens if their partner doesn't survive, caregivers who are often more stressed than the patients themselves. Young adult cancer diagnosis rates are climbing with no end in sight, and Phillips believes the answer starts with mindset.
"If you work on your mindset — the six inches between your ears — that's your answer right there," he says. "We're going to coach you through it."
His vision, given unlimited resources, is clear: reach every oncology center in the country, hire the best coaches available, and provide this service to every young adult, service member, veteran, and first responder facing a cancer diagnosis. Until then, the KFG Project is growing — already working with the University of Chicago and Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, with Johns Hopkins on the horizon.
Looking Ahead
The KFG Project is approaching its one-year anniversary with serious momentum. Phillips is developing a tech-driven coaching app in partnership with an NHL player, building out survey instruments to generate the clinical data needed to secure hospital endorsements and larger grants, and expanding his team of dedicated coaches and volunteers. Key supporters include Two Circle, a naval aviation consulting company whose CEO — a Marine Corps fighter pilot and cancer survivor — has made personal donations and opened doors to new networks.
Phillips's biggest challenge is one familiar to many founders: time. He is still working full-time at the Pentagon while building the KFG Project, and his goal is to raise enough funding to step into the organization full-time and unlock its full potential. At approximately $500,000 per hospital partnership, the need is significant — and the impact is proven.
Back the Brave
The KFG Project represents exactly the kind of mission the Kash Foundation was built to support: a veteran-founded organization filling a critical gap in care for those who serve and sacrifice. Commander Phillips didn't just survive cancer — he turned the fight into a force for good, and he's not slowing down.
Real change takes real grit. And Bill Phillips has it in spades.
To learn more about the KFG Project, visit kfgproject.org. To support organizations like this one through the Kash Foundation, visit thekashfoundation.com/support.
