The average age of a child diagnosed with cancer is 6, the average age of an adult diagnosed with cancer is 67. And yet the National Cancer Institute spends 96% of its research budget on adult cancers.
That's a paltry 4% spent on childhood cancer.
4% to give kids with cancer the chance to see age 67.

Recent reports from the National Institute of Health show that research grant funding has reached its lowest point in history with the percentage of reviewed applications that receive funding at a meager 18%. Childhood cancers, already underfunded compared to other cancers, are included in the current cuts, so parents, who are in a race against the clock to save their children, are told that the resources are now scarcer than ever.

Now consider the fact that many of the greatest breakthroughs in cancer came from pediatrics: chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation were first developed for children; the first gene therapies were undertaken in children; and the success of clinical trial and cooperative research in pediatric cancers have historically outpaced the progress in adult cancer groups. Today, success in adult cancers is measured in months, while success in childhood cancers is measured in years.

The St Baldrick's Foundation was founded with the sole purpose of funding pediatric cancer research, and is now the largest private funder of childhood cancer research, and is second only to the U.S Government. In 2012, St Baldrick's granted $25.7 million worldwide.

For the third year in a row, I will be shaving my head in solidarity with kids suffering with cancer, including my eldest daughter, and in memory of family friend Ariel. Please consider sponsoring me and help fund children's cancer research.