Current Issues: Childhood Cancer Action Day

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Childhood Cancer Action Day

Childhood cancer advocates are visiting Capitol Hill this week as part of 'Childhood Cancer Action Day' advocating for more effective drugs for children with cancer, improving treatments for childhood cancer survivors and encouraging members of Congress to work together to help kids with cancer.
Members of the Alliance for Childhood Cancer include:
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Cancer Society
American Childhood Cancer Organization
American Pediatric Surgical Association
American Psychological Association
American Society for Radiation Oncology
American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Association of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Nurses
Association of Pediatric Oncology Social Workers
B+ Foundation
Cancer Support Community
Chai Lifeline
Children's Brain Tumor Foundation
Children's Cause for Cancer Advocacy
Children's Oncology Group
CureSearch for Children's Cancer
Lance Armstrong Foundation
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
National Children's Cancer Society
National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
Patient Advocate Foundation
Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation
Sarcoma Foundation of America
Society of Pediatric Psychology
St. Baldrick's Foundation

Welcome!

Some blood cancer facts:

* Every four minutes, someone in the United States learns that they have a blood cancer.

* Every ten minutes, a child or adult dies from a blood cancer. This statistic represents nearly 148 people each day, or more than six people every hour.

* Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma will cause the deaths of an estimated 54,020 people in the United States this year.

* An estimated 137,260 people in the United States will be diagnosed with Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma this year.

*Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. In general, the likelihood of dying from most types of leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma decreased from 1998 to 2007 (the most recent data available).

(Information statistics from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society 2010-2011)

NEWS FROM MY STATE OF MINNESOTA:

In Minnesota we have what is called the ‘Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics’ with the U of MN and the Mayo Clinic, which is such a wonderful thing for our State! Their website mentions: "The Partnership has once again earned the support of the legislature when it received the most recent installment in research support of $15 million in the 2006 legislative session. The Partnership has requested $70 million over a five year period and has so far received $32 million of that funding request."

According to the 'Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics' newsletter, "In 2007, the Partnership awarded $7.5 million in state-funded support to four new research teams and one infrastructure support project in the third round of reserach since 2003. It has also awarded $1 million to one of the first research teams to take discoveries toward commercialization." Also in 2007, the Minnesota legislature has approved $25 million in biennial funding for the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics and committed $8 million for each of the following two years.

Watch my blog for more recent updates.