BRIDGING THE FUNDING GAP FOR PEDIATRIC CANCER RESEARCH

Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children and adolescents in America. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 15,780 children between birth and the age of 19 years were diagnosed with cancer in 2014. Shockingly, this means that about 1 in 285 children will develop cancer before their 20th birthday. Moreover, data compiled by the American Childhood Cancer Organization indicates that the average age that a child is diagnosed with cancer is 10 years old. For those children who lose their battle, this results in a Person Years Life Lost (PYLL) calculation of 67 years. (An average of sixty-seven years of life lost when a child dies from cancer.) By way of comparison, the average age of diagnosis for the ten most prevalent adult cancers is 65 years of age, resulting in an average PYLL of 12 years. Think of the countless amazing things that a child could accomplish in those 67 lost years…getting married and having a family, contributing their many gifts to society, perhaps even finding a cure for cancer.

Despite the tragedy of children lost to cancer, childhood cancers of all types receive only 4% of U.S. federal funding for cancer research. This disparity is significant because childhood cancers are not the same as adult cancers, and therefore treatment protocols and therapies are not interchangeable. In 2015, the Chance for Hope Foundation commenced its research endeavors, with the goal of reducing this major funding gap. As part of this effort, the Foundation funds and monitors research initiatives designed to improve treatment protocols and ultimately to find a cure for childhood cancer, with a focus on cancer of the brain and central nervous system, which is now the deadliest form of cancer in children and comprises 18% of all pediatric cancer diagnoses. We understand that the challenge of finding a cure for childhood cancer is significant, and that research funding needs are great. But the funds we raise together, along with efforts of childhood cancer organizations across the globe, can and will make a difference.

You may ask, “Why give to the Chance for Hope Foundation, rather than directly to a hospital?” The answer is access and accountability. Our Foundation has contacts with the medical staff and administration at both Texas Children’s Hospital and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Our Foundation representatives will work with these contacts to ensure that any donated cancer research funding is monitored and directly used for research. We hope you will join us in this effort. Together we can make a difference!