Foundation News

Mountain of Hope Campaign

The Foundation has launched the Mountain of Hope Campaign 2006. Brandon Schupp, a 13 year old boy from London Ontario (inspired by his 4 year old friend Cole who is battling neuroblastoma) is climbing Good Hope Mountain in British Columbia this summer. He wants Canadians to donate $100 for each of the 10,000 feet of the mountain – representing 10,000 children in Canada who are battling cancer…thereby raising $1,000,000 for pediatric cancer research.

This is a huge opportunity for the childhood cancer community across Canada to join hands and shout “We Will Win”! This campaign depends totally on everyone’s commitment to make a gift and/or share the message. So let’s all pitch in! Let’s help Brandon achieve that $1 million goal.

For more information about the campaign and to donate, visit www.childhoodcancer.ca and click on Mountain of Hope.

Cadillac Fairview - Spring into Shape

Beginning in Ontario this year, Cadillac Fairview is challenging all its employees, their families and friends, business partners, retail and office tenants and consumers to join them in making a difference in the lives of children with cancer. Our goal is to raise a minimum $25,000 for the Childhood Cancer Foundation through sponsorship and participation! So run or walk your way to CF's Spring into Shape event and help us make a difference in a child's life.

Event Date: Sunday, April 30, 2006
Check in: 9:00am
Walk/Run: 10:00am
BBQ lunch included and prizes to be won!
Location: Cherry/Clarke Beach, downtown Toronto

Register today at www.cadillacfairview.com\cfrun

Foundation Scholarship Program

Deadline is June 30 for applications for childhood cancer survivors or patients embarking on college or university education in September 2006. Find out more about the Scholarship Program. Last year the Foundation awarded 47 scholarships. If you, your company or community group would like to Adopt-A- Scholarship for a childhood cancer survivor, please contact Mary Lye at 1-800-363-1062 ext. 19 for details.

Gold Ribbon Breakfast for Childhood Cancer

On Friday, June 9, the Foundation will host a breakfast at the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax. This is a chance to hear from leading Canadian pediatric oncologists and researchers who will discuss childhood cancer progress, achievements and challenges. Survivors will also share their stories. This coincides with the annual meeting of the Council of Canadian Pediatric Hematology Oncologists (CCPHOD). If you would like to attend the breakfast, or be a sponsor, please contact [email protected] or call 1-800-363-1062 x 15.

Gold Ribbon Jazz Cruise

On Monday, July 3 we will host our first-ever Gold Ribbon Jazz Cruise on Lake Ontario . The night will sparkle with wonderful music by the Chris Plock Trio, a fabulous dinner, and a spectacular fireworks display from Ontario Place . This will be a night to remember. For more information about sponsoring the cruise or buying tickets ($125 each) contact Mary Lye at [email protected] or call 1-800-363-1062 x19

New Family Support Kit

We have started shipping our new Family Support Kit to families, support groups and hospitals. If you would like to receive this, please contact Mary Lye at [email protected]

From the Heart Bracelets

You can order a beautiful crystal, pearl and silver bracelet (with matching earrings) called From the Heart, dedicated to children with cancer. The Foundation receives proceeds from all sales. Order on-line from www.mystringbeadz.com and click on #4, From the Heart. Makes a wonderful gift for Mother’s Day, or any day.

Gold Ribbon Newsletter

Read our lastest Newsletter the Gold Ribbon News

In the news

New Free Children's Cancer Care Online Resource
The UK-based website CancerNursing.org has launched a free online course on children's cancer care. The course, entitled 'Cancer Care for Children and Young People', provides an introduction to the key types of cancer affecting young people and to their treatments. It focuses upon some of the important social and emotional issues that are present with children with cancer, and on the effect that childhood cancer can have on family life.

The course is designed to offer an overview of many different aspects of caring for young people with cancer - physical, emotional and psychological - and as such it will be of interest to many professionals who work with children.

This free and internationally peer reviewed course is available on their website www.CancerNursing.org

Teen Support Group At Gilda’s Club Greater Toronto
Gilda’s Club Greater Toronto is a place that offers free social and emotional support for anyone who has been touched by cancer, their families and friends.  Within a varied program, Gilda’s Club offers a Teen Program that creates a safe, fun and comfortable environment where teens are able to share their experiences with others, support one another and learn from others about living with cancer. Through the Teen Program, teenagers develop a teen culture and community at Gilda’s Club.  The teenagers participate in social activities such as pool tournaments, pizza parties, dances, games, community outings and so much more.  Through social interactions, teens develop friendships, confidence and a support network.

For further information about Teen support Group contact:

Joanna Kardynal Tel: 416 214 9898 ext: 538

St. Jude Projects 90 Percent Cure Rate for ALL
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060111/clw523.html?.v=14
Press Release
The cure rate for the once almost universally fatal childhood cancer acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) could reach 90 percent in the near future, thanks to improvements in diagnosis and treatment over the past four decades, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Almost 4,000 cases of ALL are diagnosed in the United States each year, about two-thirds of which are in children and adolescents, making this disease the most common cancer in this age group. A report on the progress in the treatment of ALL authored by two St. Jude investigators appears in the January 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The progressive improvement in the cure rate since 1962, when only 4 percent of children with ALL survived, reflects in large part the more effective use of existing drugs and the incorporation of sophisticated genetic technologies to personalize treatments, the authors said. Research findings at St. Jude in particular have enabled clinicians to identify patients for whom standard treatment is most likely to fail, and who should therefore be treated more aggressively; these findings have also allowed clinicians to choose the optimal drugs and drug dosages for individual patients. The improvements in ALL treatment are also helping to reduce the long-term toxic side effects of therapy by enabling clinicians to reduce or avoid the use of certain drugs or radiation that can damage major organs or cause secondary cancers.

Flu May Trigger Childhood Leukemia
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/120/113567.htm
By Daniel DeNoon
Kids who get the flu may suffer a very rare side effect: childhood leukemia, a new study suggests. The study finds that just a few months after two especially severe flu outbreaks in the U.K. there were sharp peaks in cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a form of childhood leukemia. This is not proof that flu causes any kind of cancer in children, stresses study leader Michael Murphy, MD, director of Oxford University's Childhood Cancer Research Group. But the findings support theories that flu and other infectious diseases might play a role in the ongoing slow-but-steady increase in ALL. "There has been a long, slow increase in a certain kind of childhood leukemia that hasn't been seen for other types of leukemia," Murphy tells WebMD. "We need to figure out what is causing this. The observations about flu, we think, will encourage further investigation into whether that very common childhood phenomenon -- contact with infections -- is a determinant of rare cases of childhood leukemia." Scientists don't know what causes cALL, but they think it must be a combination of several things. One leading theory comes from leukemia researcher Mel Greaves of London's Institute of Cancer Research. Greaves theorizes that it takes two "hits" for a child to get cALL. The first hit is some unknown thing -- a genetic predisposition, for example, or some toxic encounter before or shortly after birth. The second hit is an infection that hits an unusually vulnerable child in an unusual way. "It is all a bit murky," Murphy says. "Greaves suggests that what might be happening is that something stimulates a child's immune system at an inappropriate time -- later than it should or when the immune system is unprimed and sensitive. In any case, there are these rare exceptions to the rule when you get a disordered response to a particular stimulus." Might that "second-hit" stimulus be flu? Murphy's team looked at all cases of childhood leukemia in the U.K. from 1974 to 2000. Unlike other childhood leukemias, ALL steadily increased over this time. That, Murphy says, could be hit No. 1.

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