Montclair Mother of Cancer Patient Promotes Walk for Children's Cancer

Montclair mother Ann Brown says that, after her youngest daughter, Elke, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 2 1/2, she endured more than two grueling years of chemotherapy treatment before attaining long-term remission.

Elke is now a first grader at Bradford Elementary School with siblings at Mount Hebron Middle School and Montclair High School.

Today, Brown says her desire is to create more awareness of children's cancer and more funding for research, which is why she wants everyone to know about the second annual North Jersey CureSearch Walk for Children's Cancer taking place Sunday, Sept. 30 at 1 p.m. in Verona Park.

"During Elke's treatment, the support we received from the Montclair community was overwhelming," Brown said. "So I know there are many out there who have an interest in—and empahty for—this cause."

Brown notes that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month.

"I know the gold ribbons don't get as much attention as the pink do in October, but many of us are working to ensure that this cause gets greater recognition," she said.

Brown points to statistics showing cancer to be the leading disease killer of children in the United States. Indeed approximately one in 330 children will be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20.

In addition, approximately 90 percent of all children with cancer in the United States are treated at hospital partners of the Children's Oncology Group (the research organization funded by CureSearch). 

"Although Elke is in long-term remission, the price she has paid to achieve it has been high," Brown said. "In addition to giving up a couple of years of her childhood, she now has bone damage, nerve damage, and damage to a portion of the white matter of her brain."

CureSearch is the fundraising and PR arm of the Children's Oncology Group, which conducts research and has created the protocols under which approximately 90 percent of all children diagnosed with cancer in
the United States are treated.

"We hope that the research they fund will not only save the lives of the children who die each day from cancer, but also wll help find a cure that will not leave permanent and disabling battle scars on the survivors," she said.

For more information about Sunday's CureSearch Walk for Children's Cancer go here.