by charmnicole | Mar 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
HOUSTON, Texas — A unique music program at Texas Children’s Hospital is helping children with cancer and blood disorders tell their stories through music.
Purple Songs Can Fly is the first recording studio ever created on a pediatric cancer floor.
The studio gives young patients the opportunity to write their own original songs and record them. Founder Anita Kruse first started Purple Songs Can Fly in 2006 after performing at Texas Children’s Hospital as a visiting musician.
“When I thought of that line, Purple Songs Can Fly, I was thinking of the idea of sort of rising above illness,” said Kruse.
Since then, Purple Songs Can Fly has produced more than 3,000 songs. Cancer survivor Layla Borghese remembers how excited she was the first time she entered the recording studio.
Source: Purple Songs Can Fly helps young patients express themselves through music
by charmnicole | Mar 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
On International Childhood Cancer Day 2024, we highlight the vital role of parents, as well as family doctors and paediatricians, in the early detection of childhood cancers. No one is more ready to invest in their children’s well-being than parents. By getting to know the early signs and symptoms of certain cancers and looking out for them, you could save your child’s life.
Globally, more than 1000 children are diagnosed with cancer every day. Recent medical advances make for very high chances of survival in high-income countries, where more than 80% of children diagnosed with cancer will survive. Yet only about 20% of children diagnosed with cancer will survive in some low- and middle-income countries.
CureAll framework: WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer
The latest estimates show that in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, more than 70% of all children with a cancer diagnosis died in 2022 (1). Unlike cancer in adulthood, the underlying factors that contribute to childhood cancer are poorly understood, and only a small fraction of childhood cancers can be prevented. This means that the recovery of these children largely depends on the capacity of health systems to ensure timely diagnosis, early referral and appropriate treatment. Achieving this is especially challenging in the many countries of the Region that contend with humanitarian emergencies, natural disasters and political instability.
In 2018, WHO launched the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC). Its main goal is to reduce the survival gap by 2030, by making sure that at least 60% of children with cancer worldwide will survive their diagnosis. GICC is a cooperative effort involving WHO on a global, regional and country-specific scale, in partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Source: International Childhood Cancer Day 2024: reducing the survival gap
by charmnicole | Mar 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
Amid the sounds of trimmers and cheers, 13 people volunteered to have their heads shaved Feb. 23 to raise money for St. Baldrick’s Foundation to help fund pediatric cancer research. (Photos: Jenny Fontaine/UIC)
As clippers buzzed, locks of hair fell to the floor at the St. Baldrick’s Foundation annual head-shaving event at UI Health’s Children’s Hospital University of Illinois.
Thirteen people, many of them hospital staff, showed up to get their heads shaved Friday, Feb. 23, to raise money for childhood cancer research. UI Health hosts the event every year and applies for grants from St. Baldrick’s to support the UIC/Rush/Stroger Children’s Oncology Group’s clinical trials program to find cures and better treatments for childhood cancers.
Source: Going bald for children’s cancer research
by charmnicole | Mar 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
UofL students took to the dance floor to “Fight Like a Kid” for the 11th annual raiseRED dance marathon, coming out victorious by raising more than a half-million dollars to support pediatric cancer research and patient services.
The 18-hour event is the university’s largest student-run philanthropy and generates money for Norton Children’s Cancer Institute and the UofL Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology.
The dynamic event, which included themed hours, karaoke and sports tournaments, kicked off Friday at 6 p.m. and ended at noon Saturday with the heartwarming reveal of the total amount raised. As students on stage flipped signs showing the total of $516,485.76, the crowd of students, patients and supporters erupted in a massive celebration.
The funds raised from the 2024 dance marathon brought the cumulative total over the event’s history to more than $5 million.
Source: raiseRED adds $516,000 to the fight against pediatric cancer
by charmnicole | Mar 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
We’re on the cusp of March Madness, with the NCAA men’s basketball tournament kicking off today in Dayton, Ohio, and millions of people hurriedly completing their brackets before the whistle blows. Here in Sarasota, there’s another piece of college hoops action taking place. The much-loved TV announcer and local resident Dick Vitale is releasing a new book that’s all about raising money for pediatric cancer research.
In recent years, Vitale has been diagnosed with melanoma, lymphoma and vocal cord cancer. In his new book, Until My Last Breath: Fighting Cancer With My Young Heroes, he tells stories from his treatments, while also sharing the stories of young cancer survivors he’s met over the years through his work with the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Each year, Vitale attracts a number of big sports names to Sarasota for his annual gala on behalf of the foundation; last year’s event netted $12.4 million for the cause.
Source: Out, and It’s All About Raising Money for Pediatric Cancer Research
by charmnicole | Feb 7, 2024 | Uncategorized
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — 10 years after winning his battle with leukemia, Pepper Vigil is using his experience to help children and teens fight that same fight.
It all started one day at practice. Vigil thought he sprained his knee.
“But I was in so much pain that I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t walk, I was not eating. They did some blood tests and, next thing I know, I had leukemia,” Vigil said.
That diagnosis changed everything for then-15-year-old Pepper and his family.
“It took a lot of things from me. I didn’t get to go to high school. I was a pretty prospective athlete going into high school. It just kind of took that normalcy into my life,” Vigil said.
At one point in his journey, the Make-a-Wish Foundation granted his wish to visit Rome.
“It was probably one of the best things to ever happen to me, while I was in treatment,” Vigil said.
Make-a-Wish granted the wish with the help of volunteers and sponsors, including Dion’s Pizza.
It’s now been 10 years since that trip and a lot has changed then.
What’s remained the same is Vigil’s fight. Now, he’s not the main one in the battle – instead, he’s working as a pediatric oncology nurse at UNM Hospital where he helps other children and teens going through the same fight he fought.
Source: Pediatric cancer survivor honored for work as pediatric nurse
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