Hearts of Hope for a Cure

of Childhood Cancer

Childhood Cancer Facts

DID YOU KNOW?


* In the U.S. almost 3000 children die from cancer each year, more than from asthma, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, and pediatric AIDS combined.


* Cancer is the number one disease killer of children between ages of 1-19

*1 in 330 will be diagnosed with cancer by age 20.

*The incidence of childhood cancer has increased EVERY year for the last 25 years!
* In the past 25 years ONLY ONE new cancer drug has been approved for pediatric use. Since children can handle much more chemo than adults, most treatments are little more than mega doses of adult cancer chemotherapy treatments. The result of these high doses of chemo on children is a higher rate of secondary cancers. For reasons not fully known, teenagers experience the highest rate of secondary cancers as a result of the high dose chemotherapy treatments.

*A 5 year study at Children's Hospital Pittsburgh of UPMC recently concluded that teenage cancer survivorship is lower due in part to a lack of access to clinical trials. They concluded: "Patients who are enrolled in clinical trials offering the most advanced cancer treatments do better than patients who receive conventional treatment. Adolescents and young adults with cancer are less likely than younger children to be enrolled in clinical trials."
*At the time of diagnosis in children, the cancer has already spread in 80% of the cases. That is compared to the 20% in adults.

*Young adults aged 15-22 have the lowest cancer survival rate of any age group.

*Teenagers are extremely under represented in clinical trials for cancer, especially the 15-19 age group. They tend to be excluded from both childhood and adult cancer studies due to their age.


* September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness month, which nationally goes largely unrecognized.


*Currently there are between 30-40,000 children being treated for cancer in the US.


*As a nation, we spend $14 BILLION per year on the space program, but only $35 MILLION on childhood cancer research per year.

* The National Cancer Institutes federal budget is about $5 Billion. Less than 3% of the budget goes towards all pediatric cancers combined. The rest goes toward adult cancers. Breast cancer alone receives 12%. Prostate cancer receives 7%.

*The government recently cut the budget for Childhood Cancer Research!

Please visit these sites for more information.

http://www.curesearch.org/

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/childhoodcancers

 

Facts about Brain Tumors

  • Each year more than 200,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with a primary or metastatic brain tumor. Primary brain tumors comprise approximately 40,000 of these diagnoses.
  • Brain tumors are the leading cause of solid tumor cancer death in children under the age of 20, now surpassing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). They are the second leading cause of cancer death in male adults ages 20-29 and the fifth leading cause of cancer death in female adults ages 20-39.
  • Metastatic brain tumors, cancer that spreads from other parts of the body to the brain, are the most common types of brain tumors. They occur in 10-15% of people with cancer. Primary brain tumors generally do not metastasize to other parts of the body.
  • There are over 120 different types of brain tumors, which make effective treatment complicated. They can be malignant or non-malignant (benign), and in either case, can be just as injurious or life threatening. At present, the standard treatments for brain tumors include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. These may be used either individually or in combination.
  • Brain tumors in children are different from those in adults, and consequently, are treated differently. As many as 69% of children will survive, but they are often left with long-term side effects.
  • There are currently no known causes of brain tumors, however, epidemiological studies are ongoing. Complete and accurate data on all primary brain tumors is needed to provide the foundation for investigations of its causes and research leading to improved diagnosis and treatment.
  • Brain tumors have no socio-economic boundaries and do not discriminate among gender or ethnicity.
  • At this time, brain tumor research is underfunded and the public remains unaware of the magnitude of this disease. The cure rate for most brain tumors is significantly lower than that for many other types of cancer.