Join the CureSearch for Children’s Cancer Walk

Anna Crowley, now 15, daughter of Stephen Crowley and Cynthia Van Lenten, walking for Team Olivia 2012.

Join the 4th annual CureSearch for Children’s Cancer Walk on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Wade Oval, University Circle. Here are some reasons to participate:

  • Besides accidents, cancer is the leading cause of death in children, more than all other childhood diseases combined.
  • Drug companies invest next to nothing on research into children’s cancers. They see no profit in it. While the pharmaceutical industry provides up to 60 percent of the research and development for adult cancer, it provides virtually none for children’s cancer. Most treatments for childhood cancers are modified from adult versions.
  • Despite this disparity in the private sector, the National Cancer Institute spends less than 4 percent of its budget on children’s cancer, and, given the current climate in Washington, its budget is being cut even further.
  • The incidence of pediatric cancer has increased by about 30 percent over the last several years. It is unclear why.
  • Cure rates have increased dramatically, rising from 30 percent to 78 percent in the last three decades. Yet 74 percent of childhood cancer survivors suffer from chronic illnesses, and 40 percent from life-threatening illnesses.

The CureSearch Walk seeks to raise awareness of childhood cancer and the need for research. The walk also raises funds to support CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, a nonprofit foundation whose mission is to fund innovative children’s cancer research.

Last year’s walk raised more than $60,000, and helped fund pediatric cancer research at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic, and Akron Children’s Hospital.

The walk will take place from 10 a.m. to noon, Sept. 28, at University Circle’s Wade Oval. To register or contribute, go to curesearchwalk.org/neohio. Contributions are welcome even after the walk.

 

 

 

 

 

Cynthia Van Lenten

Cynthia Van Lenten and Stephen Crowley will be walking on Sept. 28 in memory of their daughter, Olivia, who died of cancer when she was 10. They and other Heights residents will be walking because they have leaerned that children's cancer is particularly underfunded.

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Volume 6, Issue 9, Posted 10:31 AM, 08.30.2013