Research

Funding First-Rate Children’s Cancer Research With St. Baldrick’s Summer Grants

by St. Baldrick's Foundation
May 29, 2014

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There is something more exciting than barbecues, beach balls, and sprinklers in the summertime at the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Every summer, childhood cancer research grants are awarded to the best and most-promising researchers and institutions in the world — bringing us one step closer to a cure for childhood cancers.

Here’s how our grant funding cycles work:

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Fundraising Tips

7 Steps to Building a St. Baldrick’s Event from a Veteran VEO

by Rebecca Bernot, St. Baldrick's Foundation
February 24, 2014

A San Antonio VEO shares his tips and tricks.

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Paul and his sons with Aubrey, a childhood cancer survivor, at a St. Baldrick’s event in San Antonio last year.

It all started with a poster in a Starbucks.

That’s how volunteer event organizer (VEO) Paul Harris first heard about the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The flyer advertising a head-shaving event to benefit childhood cancer research right there in San Antonio looked especially appealing to Paul’s two young boys, Coda and Wyland, who were excited to sign up as shavees.

Not knowing what to expect, Paul and his sons showed up on the big day, and they were hooked.

Participating in a St. Baldrick’s event in March was something Paul and his sons looked forward to every year after that. They drove to Austin for the Dell Children’s Medical Center event three years in a row when there wasn’t a St. Baldrick’s event in their hometown. The following year, Paul made it his New Year’s resolution to bring St. Baldrick’s back to San Antonio.

The March 2014 San Antonio event will mark Paul’s third year as a VEO. He shares his advice for new VEOs, veteran VEOs looking to grow their event, or anyone considering starting their own St. Baldrick’s tradition.

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Research

Working With Heart: St. Baldrick’s Researcher Survived Childhood Cancer as a Teen

by Rebecca Bernot, St. Baldrick's Foundation
January 28, 2014

At 35, Dr. Greg Aune underwent emergency heart surgery to repair the consequences of the childhood cancer treatment he endured as a teen. Now, with support from St. Baldrick’s, he’s working in the lab to understand exactly how chemotherapy damages the heart — and how we can protect kids with cancer from the deadly long-term health consequences of their treatment.

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Dr. Aune was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma when he was 16. He is now a pediatric oncologist and a St. Baldrick’s infrastructure grant recipient.

Sometimes things happen that cause you to question your life’s direction. Something like a devastating diagnosis can compel you to reevaluate your career, even making you switch gears entirely to go down a path you never imagined you’d be on.

This happened to Dr. Aune twice in less than 20 years.

As a physician-scientist, Dr. Aune regularly treats kids with cancer of all ages in the South Texas Pediatric Cancer Survivorship Program in San Antonio. He also studies the long-term effects of chemotherapy on the heart. And his St. Baldrick’s infrastructure grant is helping him and his colleague, Dr. Helen Parsons, to expand the survivorship clinic to better provide adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with treatment appropriate for their unique needs.

But Dr. Aune said he probably wouldn’t have gone to medical school had he not experienced childhood cancer firsthand. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma at 16 and underwent surgery followed by multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation before he was declared cancer free.

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Head-Shaving

Iowa Community’s Fundraising Efforts Earn Research Grant for Local Hospital

by Rebecca Bernot, St. Baldrick's Foundation
December 20, 2013

Blank Children’s Hospital receives a St. Baldrick’s infrastructure grant for the first time.

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Last year, something happened to Brian Lohse that experts say is much less likely than getting struck by lightning or eaten by a shark. He won the lottery.

And it wasn’t just any lottery — he and his wife, Mary, won the Iowa Powerball jackpot and walked away with $90.9 million, the largest cash payout in the history of their state lottery.

Instead of buying a NASCAR team or squandering it away in the casino, as some quasi-famous lottery winners have been known to do, the Lohses established a private foundation to divvy out a portion of their earnings to charity.

Having participated in St. Baldrick’s events as a shavee since 2010, St. Baldrick’s was an easy pick for a beneficiary, according to Brian. “My wife and I have three kids of our own, and the mission to help kids with cancer and to find a cure is something that I support fully,” he said.

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News

Infrastructure Grants Help Kids with Cancer in South Texas

by Rebecca Bernot, St. Baldrick's Foundation
October 30, 2013

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Dr. David Poplack tells of the success of the Vannie E. Cook Children’s Cancer Clinic on the border of Texas and Mexico. The clinic has received St. Baldrick’s funding since 2009.

Yesterday we announced the 2013 infrastructure grant awards. These grants provide funds to institutions to enroll more children with cancer in clinical trials — often their best hope for a cure — or to help them gain the resources for more lifesaving pediatric cancer research.

Today we’re sharing with you a story that shows just how much these infrastructure grants can accomplish.

Dr. David Poplack, M.D., is the director of the Texas Children’s Cancer Center, which operates the Vannie E. Cook Children’s Cancer Clinic in McAllen, Texas. The city of McAllen sits on the southern tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, separated from Mexico only by the Rio Grande River.

Prior to the opening of the clinic in 2001, kids with cancer in this region lacked access to treatment and sometimes even the necessary diagnostic tests. The clinic has been a recipient of St. Baldrick’s infrastructure grants for the past four years.

Dr. Poplack tells this story:

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News

New Grants Help Fight Childhood Cancers

by St. Baldrick's Foundation
October 29, 2013

St. Baldrick’s adds $2.2 million in grant funding for childhood cancer research.

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Excitement is in the air at the St. Baldrick’s Foundation — do you feel it?  This month, we had the pleasure of putting more dollars to work for childhood cancer research, the very dollars that our volunteers worked so hard to raise and that our donors gave so generously.

You made it possible for St. Baldrick’s to fund $2.2 million in new grants at 39 institutions across the United States. Combined with grants awarded earlier this year, St. Baldrick’s has given over $24.5 million to childhood cancer research in 2013, including the Stand Up To Cancer-St. Baldrick’s Pediatric Cancer Dream Team**.

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Kids with Cancer

St. Baldrick’s and dailyRx Google+ Hangout: Childhood Cancer in Adolescents and Young Adults [VIDEO]

by Alison Sutton, St. Baldrick's Foundation
September 20, 2013

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This Wednesday we explored childhood cancers affecting young adults in our very first Google+ Hangout on Air.

We were joined by Emily and Sarah, St. Baldrick’s Ambassadors who were both diagnosed with types of childhood cancers in their teens; Dr. Brandon Hayes-Lattin, a St. Baldrick’s Infrastructure Grant recipient and Medical Director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute; Jane Hoppen, St. Baldrick’s Foundation Director of Family Relations; and Steven Incontrera, dailyRx Director of Social Media and moderator for the Hangout.

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News

Every Cent Matters in the Fight Against Childhood Cancers

by Becky C. Weaver, Chief Mission Officer, St. Baldrick's Foundation
November 16, 2012
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Dear St. Baldrick’s Community,

I am forever grateful that you have chosen to join us in the fight against childhood cancers. You give your time and lend your voice, but most importantly, you place your trust in us to use wisely every cent you raise.

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Facts

18 Million Cancer Survivors Expected in 2022

by St. Baldrick's Foundation
June 20, 2012

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Today, nearly 14 million people in the U.S. are cancer survivors and that number is expected to soar to 18 million in just 10 years.

A new report by the American Cancer Society, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), shows that this dramatic increase is due to the earlier diagnosis and better treatment of some of the most common cancers.

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Survivors

Leaving Childhood Cancer in the Dust

by St. Baldrick's Foundation
June 7, 2012
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By Graham Henry, childhood cancer survivor.

My name is Graham Henry and I’d like to share with you about a recent turn of events that changed my life forever.

The story begins when I was 16, and like most 16-year-olds, I was invincible. Well, at least I thought I was. It was summer and freshman year had finally come to an end. I had a license, a car, and many great friends. The only thing I was missing was money to fill the gas tank, so I got a part-time job at my local grocery store.

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