Personal Statement: Finding A Cure For Cancer Among Children

Home is where you are always welcome and the one place where you will always be surrounded by those who love and support you. Home to me is cornfields, friday night football games, constant flat tires, and bonfires with my dearest friends all in the small town of Adams. I’ve spent my entire life living in the country surrounded by dirt roads where those dirt roads twist and turn and eventually lead me into Adams. Adams is a town of roughly 600 people but that number is solely just a number because Adams is just a huge support group from the day you are brought into this world to the day you leave this world. Adams is a town where everybody knows everybody and people come together in times of devastation, to celebrate a Freeman Falcon win, or to watch some fireworks on the Fourth of July. I’m proud to

Through the study, I have found out that there is minimum research in pediatric cancer and many parents from poor families find it difficult to pay for medical fee. In addition, funding for research will be effective in curbing the effects of cancer in children even as they transit to adulthood.

For years people have been looking for a cure for the devastating disease of cancer. Cancer is the third highest killer in the US with over 2,500,000 victims per year. Oncologists and scientists around the country are researching all forms of cancer in an effort to understand, treat, and ultimately defeat this disease. Already there have been numerous advances in the field, such as chemotherapy and gene therapy. One advance has been the use of a cell process known as apoptosis. By harnessing this normal cell process, scientists hope to have found an effective way to combat cancer.

Initially named Kids Acting Against Cancer, the non-profit organization currently known as Acting Against Cancer started in 1999. Jaclyn and Whitten Montgomery decided to combine their love of theater with their desire to assist those who have been impacted by cancer by performing musicals and donating proceeds to local cancer research centers. They started the organization just three years after their mother was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The two discovered the cancer’s prevalence in the population (1 in 50 Americans will develop Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma), which spurred them to start the organization. In the sixteen years that the organization has been around, they have accomplished impressive philanthropic feats as well as became a well-known theatre organization in the Louisville area.

Cancer. We all know someone who has suffered from it or has passed away because of it. Cancer now affects one in every three people, and is the second highest cause of death in the United States. For decades, the medical community has been on the hunt for a cure for cancer, and have been subjected to intense ridicule from the public because of a lack of progression toward a possible cure. In recent years, many scientists, doctors, researchers, and the general public have come to believe that the cure for cancer is being suppressed because of this lack of progress. Those who say it is suppressed claim that the drugs used to treat cancer actually cause cancer, making a patient sicker and sicker. As a result, the patients are forced to spend

Cancer is a word which evokes many different images and emotions. Nothing in this world can prepare a person for the utter devastation of finding out someone has been diagnosed with cancer, especially when this person is a child. Over the past twenty five years the amount of research and the survival rate for children suffering with cancer have increased dramatically. Despite these successes, the funding for new research necessary to keep these children alive and healthy is miniscule and too dependent on short term grants. Of the billions of dollars spent each year on cancer treatments and research less than a third is contributed to researching pediatric cancer. Given the media focus on adult cancers, research for pediatric cancer is

With Purpose is an organization dedicated to advancing the treatment of childhood cancer. Erin Benson and Mike Lee created the organization in 2009 when their two-year-old son, Sam, was diagnosed with a fatal form of brain cancer. After his death, the couple started With Purpose to inspire “a youth-led movement dedicated to creating a world where kids with cancer have access to safe and effective treatment,”(With Purpose).

Cancer is the most common disease that causes death in the United States. It is actually the second leading cause of death behind heart disease. Some people do not realize it but children can also get cancer. This is call childhood cancer and it amongst children from 0-17 years old. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease past infancy among children in the United States. At a very young age, childhood cancer had impacted my life physically, mentally and emotionally. It definitely changed my perspective on how I will live my life through on out.

b. Our cells are programed to know when to grow, divide, and when to die, with that said just like any other machine, if these “parts” within our DNA do not work then that is when our machine goes off track and starts breaking down.

Cancer is figured to be the second leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. With approximately 14 million new cases and 8.2 million cancer related deaths in 2012, alone .Why are so many people stuck suffering with this deadly disease? Millions of dollars have been invested into cancer research, yet there is no cure. Are these pharmaceutical companies focus on finding a cure for cancer or concentrating on elongated treatments in order to lengthen their pockets? We must first understand that cancer is big business earning huge profits. Nonetheless, the cancer industry is spending virtually zilch of its multi-billion dollar resources on effective prevention strategies, like dietary guidelines, exercise, natural remedies and herbs proven to cure cancer. Instead, it pours its money into treating cancer, not preventing or allaying it.

The year is 2086. You look down into the lens of your microscope and with shaky hands, dispense the last drop of the serum on the petri dish and victoriously smile because you have found the cure. After eighty years, you can finally declare that the last cancer cell is dead. Running upstairs to celebrate with your family, you find yourself calling out to a cold and empty house. Painful memories of the past flood your mind with the reality that your wife left after waiting thirty years for you to start a family together. Aside from the loneliness, it can be said that a scientist like you, with a firm belief in research, evidence, and result has lived quite a successful life.

As established in the National Cancer Institute, “Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide for children and adolescents in America, accounting for more than 91,250 children that lose their lives to this disease” (National Cancer Institute). Cancer is not considered a terminal illness, but more of a chronic illness because of the intense treatment that the individual has to endure. As a result of this treatment the chances of survival for children suffering from pediatric cancer has increased around 80 percent. The increment in the survival rate has made it possible for many parents to not have to go through the acceptance that they are about to lose their child to a terminal illness, but have coping strategies that will make them adapt to the fear of the reoccurrence of that illness. This illness has a great impact on the patient as well as the family because not only do they have to adapt to this illness physically, but also mentally. Research has shown that there are both short term and long term effects that come into effect when the child is both in treatment and also years after the treatment. The type of cancers that these adolescents have to endure range from leukemia, brain tumors and other cancerous tumors that have appeared in recent medical studies. These tumors can either be benignant, an acute case that is non-cancerous or malignant, a cancerous case that will need intense treatment over an extended period of time.While many would say there is more of a

Ever wondered why the cure for cancer has yet not been discovered? Human beings have gone from bashing rocks together to ignite fire, to making inventions considered next to impossible at once but still has lost the war on finding the cure for cancer. Is it that harder? Is it more difficult than the making of Apollo and discovering water on moon? Millions and millions of dollars spent and thousands of scientists working on it

Because of the great variance in malignant neoplasms (the cause of cancer), research has not been great enough to save the

Therefore, we can’t simply wake up one day, suddenly knowing the ins and outs of this disease’s mechanisms and processes. Due to the fact that developing treatments and countermeasures for cancer requires an understanding, research is very obviously an integral part to solving the riddle. While we do currently possess a limited knowledge of cancer, our knowledge is just that, limited. How can we ever hope to develop more effective treatments when the information we’re basing our ideas on is outdated and static? Simply put, we need to update our understanding of this disease, and research is our