Generally, there are two ways to discover a new cancer drug: You can use basic science to discover a cancer’s Achille’s heel and then find or build a drug that exploits it, or you can try a bunch of drugs on cancer cells and see what works. Think of the basic science approach as building…
Children’s Hospital Colorado oncologist Adam Green, MD, understands the risks of whole-brain radiation, but sometimes it’s an important part of the cure for cancers like medulloblastoma or high-risk leukemia. The problem is that in addition to the long-term cognitive challenges that can accompany this use of radiation, the treatment can actually cause new cancers: About…
Chemotherapy and radiation kill rapidly dividing cells, a hallmark of cancer (and hair). However, cancer stem cells do not divide rapidly and so tend to resist these treatments. And while these stem cells make up only a small percentage of a tumor’s bulk, if only a small population survives treatment, they can often regrow a…
How to Talk to Children About the Coronavirus Pandemic Alan D. Wolfelt, PhD As the coronavirus spreads across North America and our daily lives are transformed, we all must be aware of the need for good mental health care. Obviously, it’s a stressful time. Families are confined to their homes. School is canceled. Many businesses…
There was quite a lot for researchers in the Morgan Adams Foundation Brain Tumor Research Program to celebrate in February! Dr. Nick Foreman’s group was awarded TWO large federal grants to continue their industry-leading research of ependymoma. First, an RO1 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) / National Cancer Institute (NCI) will support an…
When a cancer patient survives five years from the end of treatment, most medical teams consider it a success. However, for some pediatric brain cancers, being disease-free at five years does not equal a cure. “For a long time, we thought that surgery and radiation were pretty good treatments for ependymoma…until we realized that patients’…
artma exists because there are kids who are battling every day to survive. For each artma, Patricia Mowry, the Creative Arts Therapist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, coordinates an art project with kids in treatment in the Pediatric Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. This year, 25 kids, teens, and young adults participated by creating a drawing of…
One of our favorite events of the holiday season Ferrari of Denver‘s Annual Holiday Toy Drive! We are so grateful to have been invited to participate in FoD’s 11th Annual Holiday Toy Drive again this year! As an added bonus for this year’s event, Tristan Williams, a 17-year-old high school student from Bailey, Colorado and…
Hannah and Gabe are teenage survivors of medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer that is found primarily in kids. Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor found in children, accounting for about 20% of all pediatric brain cancers. Prior to being diagnosed with cancer at age 12, Hannah was a huge athlete, competing in…
There are three traditional treatments for cancer: Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. But now a golden age of cancer research driven in part by new technologies and seed grant funding made possible through your support is not only adding new cancer treatments, but entirely new classes of cancer treatments. One of these new classes is targeted…