Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer Donates $85,000 to Cook Children’s Medical Center
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer Donates $85,000 to Cook Children’s Medical Center
Funding will be used to bring innovative treatment to North Texas for neuroblastoma patients
Evelyn Costolo, CEO for Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer (WOKC), recently presented a check on behalf of WOKC for $85,000 to Cook Children’s Medical Center Fort Worth. The donation will provide funding for an MIBG treatment program for children with relapsed neuroblastoma, a cancer of the peripheral nervous system and the most common tumor found in children. Dr. Meaghan Granger and Dr. Gretchen Eames, pediatric Hematology/Oncology physicians at Cook Children’s were present to accept the check.
The $85,000 WOKC donation for the MIBG treatment program is being made in honor of Michael Malone, a Wipe Out Kids’ Cancer Ambassador who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in December 2009 at age 4. Approximately 600 children are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year. One of the most difficult parts of treating neuroblastoma is that it often initially responds to chemotherapy, radiation and surgery but has a high relapse rate and is much harder to cure when it returns. The survival at five years from the initial diagnosis is less than 40%. For patients who experience a relapse of their neuroblastoma, the survival is generally accepted to be less than 20%. The MIBG treatment is one of the most hopeful treatments available for neuroblastoma patients because it has a proven success rate of treating patients whose cancer has relapsed with response rates up to 40%.
Currently, there are only five MIBG treatment centers in the United States, and patients from the South and Southwest have previously had to travel to California, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania & Massachusetts for this cutting-edge treatment. The MIBG treatment room at Cook Children’s is expected to open in March of 2012 and will offer North Texas cancer patients like Michael the hope of a cure along with the comfort of being close to home and family.
“Every advancement in curing pediatric cancer has come through research that provides innovative treatments such as the MIBG program. We are so thankful for the support from our donors in 2011 that allowed us to provide funding for these critical research initiatives and hope for a cure to pediatric cancer patients like Michael,” said Evelyn Costolo, WOKC CEO.