03/25/2013 (press release: clay@curingkidscancer.org) // Marietta, GA, USA // Clay Owen
Curing Kids Cancer announced the 2012 recipients of $495,000 in grants that will go toward innovative programs and groundbreaking research that will save children’s lives.
“Finding cures for childhood cancers requires finding doctors and research facilities that are breaking new ground in pediatric cancer research,” said Grainne Owen, founder of Curing Kids Cancer. “We are thrilled at the quality of this year’s recipients and look forward to the day when childhood cancers are no longer a threat.”
In one of the nonprofit group’s most significant grants, $175,000 was given to Texas Children’s Cancer Center to fund the training of a pediatric oncologist in the pharmacology of childhood cancer. The training will make the physician – Eric Schafer, MD, MHS – one of only six doctors in the country trained to understand the ways new drugs can work for children who suffer from cancer. Curing Kids Cancer has made the commitment to fund the training for the required three years. Another $175,000 already is allotted for next year. The work of Dr. Schafer and others trained in this facet of cancer treatment could make traditional chemotherapy, and its horrible side effects, a thing of the past.
Another beneficiary of Curing Kids Cancer is the Aflac Cancer Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The 2012 grant of $175,000 includes $15,000 which was used to provide key equipment to the Aflac Cancer Center. The equipment will ensure patient safety, and will enhance the efficiency with which the Center’s staff members support their young patients. Curing Kids Cancer is also endowing the Aflac Cancer Center’s Clinical Research Office.
Fascinating research at the University of Texas Southwestern is building upon ground-breaking work that identified the genetic synthesis of Ewing’s Sarcoma, a childhood bone cancer. Curing Kids Cancer granted $55,000 toward Dr. James Amatruda’s research with zebrafish. His work is so compelling, cancer centers across the country and in Canada have asked Dr. Amatruda to share his findings. Curing Kids Cancer has been funding Dr. Amatruda’s work for the last five years and has provided more than $150,000 in total to support his research.
Palmetto Health Children’s Cancer Center received $30,000 from Curing Kids Cancer to help endow a new pediatric oncologist position. This will allow the Center to provide new drugs to patients treated in the South Carolina Center.
In North Carolina, research and treatment at Brenner Children’s Hospital received a boost from Curing Kids Cancer through a $10,000 grant.
The nonprofit organization Curing Kids Cancer was inspired by nine-year-old Killian Owen. Killian lost his hard-fought battle with leukemia in July 2003. His parents, Clay and Grainne Owen, founded Curing Kids Cancer in Killian’s memory, to raise money for leading-edge pediatric cancer research, and to make the newest, most innovative treatments available to children who need them. Since its inception in 2005, Curing Kids Cancer has donated almost $3 million toward making all childhoods cancer-free. See www.curingkidscancer.org for more information.
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