The Need

There are children in our communities and all across the country with a deadly childhood cancer, neuroblastoma (NB - the most common cancer among infants). These children are fighting for their lives—fewer than half will survive. When a child relapses the survival rate drops into the single digits and that is true when children are properly diagnosed. Unfortunately, up to a third aren't, causing them to be given the wrong treatments and worse. These children are our focus. 

Treatments for these children can involve surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, bone marrow transplants, and antibodies. Chemotherapy and radiation are themselves carcinogenic. If the child is fortunate enough to survive, the likelihood of dealing with long-term side effects is 72%, with 42% being life-threatening. 

That is why harnessing the child’s own immune system is so important. Every one of the doctors on our medical advisory board is focused on training the immune system to fight cancer without toxic lifelong or life-threatening side effects.  Obviously our first priority is to fund any treatment that can significantly increase survival rates; however, all things being equal we will lean towards harnessing the child's own immune system -  like how a vaccine works.