Category Archives: Medical/Research

The Future of Cancer Care at Children’s National Webinar

We invite you to listen to the below webinar featuring Alex’s Army Research Advisor Dr. Jeffrey Dome and Dr. Catherine Bollard as they discuss research advances at Children’s National with specific mention of the REST Immunotherapy trial Alex’s Army has helped fund the last several years.

The Future of Cancer Care at Children’s National Webinar from Children’s Hospital Foundation on Vimeo.

Alex’s Army continues to support REST Immunotherapy Trial

For the 3rd year in a row Alex’s Army was able to present Dr. Jeffery Dome with a check in the amount of $100,000.00 to support the REST Immunotherapy Trial at Children’s National Medical Center. We are so honored to be able to do our part to help fund innovative research for newer less toxic and more individualized treatments for children fighting cancer. We know that we can only do this because of the love, the support, and prayers from YOU – Alex’s Army.

2017 Research Donation – REST Study Phase II

Our hearts are overflowing with thankfulness! Yesterday, a few of us from our Alex’s Army team went to D.C. to present Dr. Jeffrey Dome and Children’s National Medical Center with a check in the amount of $100,000.00!!!

Because of the successes the Phase I study is seeing, one of the trials Alex’s Army helped to fund last year, this years’ donation will continue to directly fund the REST Immunotherapy study as it goes into Phase II and will be opened to even more families!

Dr. Jeffrey Dome, MD, PhD, is Vice President of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Chief of the Divisions of Hematology and Oncology, and Associate Director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at Children’s National Health System in Washington, DC. He also is Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences and the Thomas Willson and Lenore Williams McKnew Professor of Pediatric Oncology. He has chaired the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Renal Tumor Committee, which oversees clinical research on kidney tumors at more than 200 children’s hospitals around the world, for more than 10 years and has authored more than 150 articles, books and chapters on pediatric cancer. Dr. Dome was one of Alex’s Oncologists and we are so incredibly honored to be able to come alongside him and the researchers of Children’s to help fund new treatments for children and families still fighting.

Please know that today and EVERY day we are humbled and filled with such gratitude for YOU, Alex’s Army, for making this happen. We know that it is from YOUR support, that we are able to not only help equip the brilliant researchers fighting childhood cancer on the frontlines with the necessary funds they need, but that through your support we are able to bring a little bit of HOPE to the families who are fighting and to those who will be fighting in the days to come!

Beyond the funding presentation though, the day was special for another reason. Yesterday was the day we met Matthew and his family in person. Matthew is a Wilms Tumor Warrior who is currently on the Phase I REST Immunotherapy trial. To say meeting Matthew and his family was a blessing is an understatement…meeting the McDonnell family in person was EVERYTHING to our team. To have the opportunity to see Matthew full of energy, hugs, and smiles…was bittersweet…and he gives the BEST hugs! Inspired by Alex, Matthew, and all the children like these amazing kiddos are why we work so hard day in and day out to raise funds for research – to provide HOPE, to see SMILES, and to one day by the grace of God see CURES!

This was a GOOD day and we are so very thankful for the GOOD days!

On behalf of our Alex’s Army Board Members, our Alex’s Army team, Derek, Jacob, Caitlyn, myself and of course our sweet Alex…THANK YOU for having a heart to make a difference for our children fighting cancer…Thank YOU for being a part of Alex’s Army!

With Faith, Hope, and Love Always,
Jenni Green
President & Co-Founder
Alex’s Army Childhood Cancer Foundation

$100,000 donated to support REST study

Alex’s Army is incredibly pleased and humbled to have presented a check to Dr. Jeffrey Dome, MD, PhD, in the amount of $100,000.00 to Children’s National on Thursday, Dec. 29th, 2016.

Dr. Dome is the chief of the Division of Oncology and the Division of Hematology and is also the chair of the Renal Tumor Committee for the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). He oversees clinical trials for Wilms tumors and other childhood kidney cancers in more than 200 children’s hospitals. He holds the Thomas Willson & Lenore Williams McKnew Professorship in Pediatric Oncology and has authored more than 30 articles and textbook chapters on pediatric kidney tumors.

Funding from this grant will support the REST study which is an immunotherapy trial for patients with high-risk solid tumors including Ewing sarcoma, Wilms tumor, Neuroblastoma, Rhabdomyosarcoma, Soft tissue sarcomas, Osteosarcoma, and Adenocarcinoma. The idea behind the study is to harvest T-cells from patients, grow them in a lab, and “train” the cells to target the WT1 protein (and two other proteins called survivin and PRAME). Once the cells are “trained” to target these proteins, they are given back to the patient in hopes of better fighting off the cancerous cells. An impact report will be provided for updates on the study progress.

Witnessing firsthand the harsh effects of chemotherapies on our children, we have great interest in helping to fund less toxic treatments that will reduce long term side effects for pediatric patients. This type of immunotherapy trial was a perfect fit to the type of research Alex’s Army was hoping to support with our 2016 research funding. Our Board voted unanimously on funding this trial and on Thursday members of Alex’s Army traveled to DC on Thursday to meet with Dr. Dome and his team.

This donation was made in memory and honor of our sweet Alex – and too many other children who have had to leave us too soon. This check was ONLY possible because of the ARMY of supporters who this past year have prayed, sponsored, donated, and come alongside our organization to make a difference for children and families impacted by various childhood cancers. We thank everyone who helped make this possible truly from the bottom of our hearts. While this trial came too late for our sweet Alex, who as many of you know passed away in June of this year, we are hopeful and will be prayerful that this treatment will bring researchers a few steps closer to finding cures and that the patients who have the opportunity to enroll in this study will find healing.

It takes an ARMY to fight childhood cancers and TOGETHER we are Alex’s Army!

Alex’s Army is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to raise awareness to the lack of funding for childhood cancers, to provide funding to further research with a focus on Wilms Tumor, and to provide support for the childhood cancer community through faith, hope, and love.

New Data Shows a Child Is Diagnosed With Cancer Every 2 Minutes

According to new research done by WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), about 215,000 children worldwide — from infants to 14-year-olds — are newly diagnosed with childhood cancer each year.

That’s a big jump from their last study, which showed about 165,000 new cases of childhood cancer each year.

On top of that, the new study found that 85,000 adolescents — from 15-year-olds to 19-year-olds — are being diagnosed each year, bringing the overall incidence of childhood cancer to 300,000 kids per year.

But what do these new numbers really mean?

They mean that every two minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer.

They mean that childhood cancer research — and more funding for it — is more crucial than ever before.

Read more…

Finding A Cure Wouldn’t Mean We’ve Defeated Cancer

When President Barack Obama announced the $1 billion moonshot initiative in February, he appointed Vice President Joe Biden, whose 46-year-old son Beau died of brain cancer last year, to be the project’s steward.

“Right now, only 5 percent of cancer patients in the U.S. end up in a clinical trial,” Biden wrote in Medium in January. “The science, data, and research results are trapped in silos, preventing faster progress and greater reach to patients. It’s not just about developing game-changing treatments  —  it’s about delivering them to those who need them.”

Wednesday’s National Cancer Moonshot Summit, which harkens back to Richard Nixon’s 1971 “war on cancer,” is a national day of action led by Biden to crowdsource strategies for accelerating cancer-curing research from more than 350 scientists, oncologists, data and tech experts, patients, families and advocates across the country.

While the summit is a first step toward the moonshot’s expressed goal of doubling the current rate of progress toward a cure for cancer, there has been noticeably little discussion among politicians, advocacy groups and other stakeholders of what curing cancer actually means.

A spokeswoman for Biden said that the summit incorporated a discussion on survivorship, but declined to comment on the record about specific ways the moonshot would address the issue.

Critics called the initiative oversimplified, and emphasized that because cancer is many diseases, not just one, it’s unrealistic to push for a single cure. Others pushed back on the initiative’s meager budget.

“Let’s be honest,” Ezekiel Emanuel, oncologist and chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, told STAT. “There’s not that much money in the moonshot. I just don’t think it is going to have that big an impact.”

Later in January, the vice president added, “I said I believe that we need an absolute national commitment to end cancer as we know,” he said. “I’m not naive, I didn’t think we could ‘end cancer.’ I’m not looking for a silver bullet. There is none.”

Survival is also more complicated than being cancer-free, a concern that’s rarely included in well-meaning, but oversimplified political initiatives and awareness months. Survivors’ stories, particularly those of childhood survivors who have had the longest tenure with cancer and its side effects, could help broaden the focus of the moonshot aims by highlighting their experiences of what life after cancer is like.

Read full article (huffingtonpost)

Children’s cancer research is often ignored. Make it a ‘moonshot’ priority

Cancer is the leading disease-related cause of death in children in the United States. Yet pediatric cancer is often left behind when it comes to funding research and developing new drugs. Not only does this give short shrift to children with cancer, but it also threatens to rob us of advances that could benefit cancer patients of all ages.

That’s what I and fellow members of the Coalition for Pediatric Medical Research told the staff of Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading the cancer “moonshot.” We recently met in Biden’s Washington office to make the case that childhood cancer must be represented as the government considers ways to propel cancer research.

Six decades ago, the first major breakthrough in the treatment of cancer came when Dr. Sidney Farber used an experimental drug to treat leukemia in children. Some went into remission — a medical first. Chemotherapy was born, revolutionizing the care of both children and adults with cancer.

Since then, overall cure rates for childhood cancers have risen to 80 percent. Some pediatric cancers post cure rates of 90 percent, while others remain difficult or nearly impossible to cure. At the same time, a majority of childhood cancer survivors experience harmful, lifelong complications of the treatments that saved them. Such late effects can be far more devastating to the survivor diagnosed at age 5 than the survivor diagnosed at age 65.

Read more…

Sean Parker Donates $250 Million to Launch Cancer Immunotherapy Institute

Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker will donate $250 million to launch a new institute aimed at developing more effective cancer treatments by fostering collaboration among leading researchers in the field.

“Any breakthrough made at one center is immediately available to another center without any kind of IP (intellectual property) entanglements or bureaucracy,” Parker, the co-founder of music-sharing website Napster and the first president of Facebook, told Reuters in an interview.

The new Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy will focus on the emerging field of cancer immunotherapy, which harnesses the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells.

Read Full Article

President Obama Puts Joe Biden in Charge of Curing Cancer

President Obama announced Tuesday in his final State of the Union that Vice President Joe Biden would spearhead an initiative to cure cancer.

“Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer,” Obama said, before noting that Biden has worked with Congress to add resources for the National Institutes of Health. “Tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.”

This comment got enormous applause, as the President turned to Biden and went off script, saying, “What do you say, Joe?” Biden gave him a thumbs up, to more applause. “Let’s make it happen,” President Obama said.

Vice President Biden lost his son, Beau Biden, 46, to brain cancer in 2015.

Original Article

Fighting Childhood Cancer Until There's a Cure!