The realities of Childhood Cancer, and brain tumors in general, are absolutely heartbreaking…
- The average age of death for a child with cancer is under 11 years old.
- Childhood cancer results in as many as 50 OR MORE years of life lost.
- Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 19.
- More children die of brain tumors than any other form of cancer.
- Less than 4% of the federal funding for cancer research is dedicated to childhood cancers. Yet one in 285 kids in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer by the time they turn 20.
Our kids are worth more than 4%.
Those statistics are stuck in my brain and will be forever. I think Reid could have easily lost 80+ years off of his life. I can hardly bear to think about all of the milestones we will miss with him. And the reality is that his subtype of Medulloblastoma has a 75-80% cure rate. I will never understand it, but I will always continue to update myself on current research so that I can try to. It is so very unfair…
I learned the other day that the breast cancer research department at the University of Iowa is larger than the entire pediatric cancer research department. WHAT? Although I absolutely understand and appreciate adult cancer research, the statistic about the years of life lost to a child with cancer really pushes me to advocate for childhood cancer research.
Research to cure childhood cancers has come a LONG way in the past 50 years. The cure rate in general is somewhere around 80%. Incredible right? Yes! BUT it’s not good enough. Childhood cancer treatments leave children with terrible side short and long term effects and long term health issues…ones that parents will happily accept just to keep their child alive. In addition, a very deadly type of brain cancer, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), continues to have a less than 1% cure rate. Brain tumors and other childhood cancers continue to take the lives of poor, innocent children.
The fields of genetics and tumor testing are growing rapidly. Researchers are learning more about cancer subtypes and testing drugs on targetable mutations to find better treatments that are more tolerable. However, kids are last in line to receive new drugs on trials. Why? Because drugs are first tested on adults and then trickle down the line before they get to trials with children. Another Why? Children with cancer are not profitable because they are “rare”. However, kids can withstand way more chemotherapy than adults and children and their parents are eager to TRY ANYTHING to find a cure. Kids are incredibly resilient! We would have tried anything to find a cure. We did try everything…
Our mission will always be to raise money to support research to help find cures and better treatments with fewer side effects for treating childhood cancers, especially the most deadly type of childhood cancer: brain tumors.
Want to know our first goal? We are pledging a $25,000 donation to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital Department of NeuroOncology/Brain Tumor Research Department. We are hoping to help grow this department and know the funds will be used to help researchers and local kids who need access to new treatments. Let’s do our best to help save some very important lives.
Sending love,
Megan & The Rally for Reid Team