Research Study on Pediatric Cancer Funding

Families of a child diagnosed with leukaemia will find out that it will affect not only the child, but will change forever the lives of the parents, siblings, and relatives (Jennifer Lynn Stroud Foundation). According to the Jennifer Lynn Stroud Foundation, leukaemia treatments are one of the most expensive and prolonged treatments for children. Often chemotherapy treatments are not successful the first time so it may be necessary to plan for a second round of treatment and any other required treatments that may be necessary. Parents should have their health insurance policy reviewed by the hospitals financial department to make known any costs that are or are not covered and what out of pocket expenses they will need to plan for.

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

Specific Purpose: To convince the audience that childhood cancer is more common than believed, and that action should be taken to increase awareness and funding for research.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is the number one worldwide organization for children's cancer and other serious childhood diseases. “St. Jude has helped improve the survival rate of childhood cancer from 20 to 80 percent”(Young). With your help the families of the children with illnesses pay absolutely nothing throughout their time and stay at St. Jude, making their child's condition and health their only and number one priority (About St. Jude’s Research Hospital). The amount of money that is donated to this hospital benefits not only the patients there, but convalescent’s all around the globe. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is an organization in which you should donate your money because all of the money goes into paying for the patients’ care and stay, the breakthroughs that they make are shared so doctors everywhere can help more children, and they have improved the survival rate of children’s cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, there are sixteen major types of childhood cancers and over 100 subtypes. Leukemia and Lymphoma cancer are the most common cancers that children get at a young age. Everyday forty-six kids are diagnose with childhood cancer and seven children die every day. Childhood cancer kills more kids than Cystic Fibrosis, AIDS, and asthma combined! The worst part about childhood cancer is that the treatment side affects can last a lifetime for these kids. People do not understand that childhood cancer only gets a small percentage of the budget for all cancers. National Cancer Institute budget is around $4.9 billion and only 4% of that sum goes towards childhood cancer.

Main idea: For more than 20 years, the ST. Jude international outreach program has been working to improve global survival rates of children with other life threating diseases. Analyses: St. Jude has made it easier to research a cure for cancer. They have been able to help thousands of kids be cured from cancer. Evidence: “St. Jude has implemented institution operatic cancer registers and data management best practices to understand the regional burden of pediatric cancer and help determine which treatments are most effective.

Out of 100,000 children 32.1 cancer diagnoses occur in the age group 0-14, 138.6 occur in the 15-39 age group, and 2,053.8 occur in 40 and older (cancer.gov). Pediatric cancer, being so rare, makes research and development hard to fund because there are not many eligible participants for each specific trial. This creates a “Catch 22” by having a good societal support system, yet not having enough “return-on-investment” (Milne). Pediatric cancer is the leading cause of death in children after accidents, however the amount of deaths has lower drastically in recent years. The mortality rate as a whole has decreased by fifty percent in the last thirty years, however for patients with cancers other than lymphoma or leukemia the mortality rate has not declined since 1996 (Analysis of the National Cancer Institute’s Investment). Lymphoma and leukemia are the most common cancers that children are diagnosed with, but there are many more that can occur that need new research in order to discover ways to decrease the current mortality rate. In 1960 it was discovered that leukemia could be treated by “combination chemotherapy and dose intensity” this brought the curability up from 10% before this discovery to 80% by the 1990s (Norris and Adamson). Although this treatment has been successful for leukemia patients, the most common of childhood cancers, it is not as successful with other types of cancer. There are currently clinical trials that take place to begin trying to find treatments or cure for pediatric cancer, however because of lack of funding many of the trials do not continue or never really take off. Due to the lack of funding and efforts put forth into research for pediatric cancer more the 2,500 children die in America every year (thetruth365.org). Children diagnosed with cancer deserve more work to be put into finding a cure so they can go on to live long, happy

With Purpose functions to address the shortcomings in the childhood cancer research process. Childhood cancer is currently the leading cause of death from disease among children in the US, yet there has been no advancement for treatment in over 30 years. This organization works to address these issues by addressing three

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

Imagine finding out that your child was diagnosed with cancer. I bet a million questions would be going through your head. How much is the treatment going to cost? How are we going to get to the hospital every time my child needs treatment? And how are we going to pay to get to there? Where will we stay? Should we rent an apartment or pay for a hotel? How much will housing cost?

You are watching the television, and a St. Jude commercial comes on. The commercial gets you thinking about those small children that are fighting to survive. Maybe you donate to the cancer organization, maybe you will not. This commercial gets you thinking of those children, and families, and how they are coping with this big obstacle in their lives. The commercial shows all of those sick innocent children in the hospital that need help, and answers. Childhood cancer is something that can either give a child a second life as a result, or take their life away at such a young age. Most people do not know a lot about cancer, or the ways that they can help cancer victims. There are many things that people can learn about childhood cancer such as, the most common types of childhood cancer, the ways to treat it, bringing awareness to this vicious illness, and how the doctors, families, and patients deal with this challenge.

The two primary roles for health professionals and cancer prevention are first, preventing adult type of cancers by educating parents and children about the hazards of known carcinogens particularly the effects of cigarette smoking and excessive exposure to sunlight also to provide early detection of other types of cancer and informing young males to learn testicular self-examination and teaching female adolescence about self-breast examinations with periodic health exams including pap smears and the second role is the need to be aware of cardinal symptoms of childhood cancer

Drugs are typically tested and approved in the adult population before being introduced to children3

As one can see the price for one single child with cancer treatment that needs necessary care over multiple nights can be, on average, up to 6 figures in the United States (oeconline 2). Statistically, the national cost per child is about equivalent to $815,830 in 2007 dollars (oeconline 1). The average per day costs for pediatric cancer has increased consistently from 2000 to 2005 by over twenty percent, figuratively that is from $14,400 to $17,500 (Nagamine 2). Although the prices are already substantially high they are apparently still on the rise (Nagamine 2).

Public awareness of Childhood Cancer has increased due to advertising and initiatives implemented by charities, organisations and governments. Initiatives such as Bandanna day - run by camp quality assist in raising public awareness for young people living with Cancer. The funds that are raised are put towards providing support for patients and their families, as well as funding research into childhood cancer and diagnosis (Canteen 2014).