Health & Healthcare

Protecting the Future of Children Diagnosed With Cancer

Nov 28, 2017 9:00 AM ET
Campaign: Connecting Business to Cause

Each year, more than 40,000 children undergo cancer treatment.  Sadly, only three cancer medications have been specifically approved for children in the last 20 years. Even with these treatments, cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children. Those that survive often face a future of serious side effects from treatments given at this delicate stage of their development.

“Childhood cancer is the number one killer of children by disease. And while statistics now show that 83% of the almost 16, 000 children diagnosed in the US each year 'survive', this does NOT necessarily mean that they are cured and go on to lead healthy lives,” says Laura Thrall, CEO of CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. “We need to find better treatments and cures so that children not only survive their cancers, but go on to live healthy, productive lives.”

At CureSearch for Children's Cancer, we've made it our mission is to protect the future of every child diagnosed with cancer through the delivery of more effective, less toxic treatments. We do this in two ways:

#1 - Investing in the Most Promising Research

We support mission-critical research in three stages, bringing a unique continuum to children’s cancer research:

  • Young Investigator Program - We provide seed funding for early-stage researchers to support basic science, ensuring the brightest minds in pediatric cancer remain in the field.
  • Acceleration Initiative- We take basic science to the next level, translating discovery into new therapies ready for clinical trial.
  • Catapult Awards - Without assistance, great research can remain stuck in the lab, never entering the drug development phase. We've stepped up to lead the charge with experts in regulation, pharma and academia to catapult promising treatments out of the lab and into clinical trials and commercialization, where new drugs can help save children's lives.

#2 - Helping Children and Families Cope with a Cancer Diagnosis

We focus on healing a child diagnosed with cancer, and helping families and caregivers get the mental, emotional and psychosocial support they need:

  • CureSearch Community Impact Awards (CCIA) -Families need help coping with emotional, mental and psychological anxieties when confronted with a cancer diagnosis.  To assist, we offer grants to local hospitals to provide psycho-social programs for children and their families.
  • Educational Resources - Concerned families have many questions when someone they love is diagnosed with a children’s cancer.  We develop and share expert-vetted cancer resources and videos, accessed on our website by over one million people each year.
  • Community Events - We celebrate and honor our youngest cancer survivors through our heartwarming SuperHeroes Unite! events that take place year-round throughout the country, raising critical funds to support research and programs.

What Your Support Can Do

Your support makes a difference. Here's how:

  • Your gift of $10 can fund five minutes of lifesaving research by a CureSearch Young Investigator, like Dr. Ranjit Bindra from Yale University, who is working on novel targeted drugs for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.
  • Your gift of $25 can support one day of treatment on a clinical trial for a child with cancer.
  • Your gift of $50 can fund ten minutes of Acceleration Initiative research, like the research being conducted on high-risk pediatric cancers by Dr. Andrew Kung from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
  • Your gift of $100 can provide families with educational resources they need to support a child in treatment, like the CureSearch CancerCare App.

CureSearch can’t fight children’s cancer alone. Your donation will help accelerate cancer research initiatives, and it will raise awareness about how devastating cancer can be. Please give at work today to help a child with cancer live a longer, healthier and more productive life tomorrow.

Support CureSearch through your employee giving program:

As a donor, you can support CureSearch by donating to them through your employer’s workplace giving program (CFC#10701 if you're a military or federal employee participating in the Combined Federal Campaign). Payroll pledges made through employer-sponsored charitable giving programs represent a cost effective and near effortless way to support your favorite charities.

As CureSearch's workplace giving partner, America’s Charities can help your company design and implement a program centered on supporting their work - through workplace giving campaigns, employee fundraising, cause-focused signature programs, volunteerism, donation drives, matching gifts, Dollars-for-Doers, In-Kind Giving and other employee engagement and philanthropic initiatives. Click here to request a demo and learn how we can help you do this.