St. Baldrick's Foundation Grant Aids Saint Peter's Fight Childhood Cancers

Editor's note: The following article is courtesy of Saint Peter's University Hospital. 

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven and donor-centered charity dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, has awarded a one-year infrastructure grant of $37,480 to Saint Peter’s University Hospital. This grant is one of 39 infrastructure grants awarded as part of the foundation’s fall grant cycle, totaling more than $2.2 million in pediatric oncology research.

The monies will enable greater participation by Saint Peter’s patients and their families in ongoing clinical research trials toward the development of new treatments for childhood cancers.

The Pediatric Hematology/Oncology program at Saint Peter’s remains at the forefront of treatment and research in cancer and blood disorders in children, and the program provides follow-up care for childhood cancer survivors up to the age of 30 years old.

Saint Peter’s is also a test site for the National Cancer Institute’s Children’s Oncology Group clinical trials. The designation provides access to the latest in research, data and information on the treatments of childhood cancers from specialists throughout the United States.

“The entire pediatric oncology team at Saint Peter’s wishes to express our gratitude for the support provided by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation,” said Stanley Calderwood, M.D., chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital. “This generous grant will help to ensure that a greater number of our patients will have access to clinical trials, which are a crucial tool in the fight against childhood cancer.”

Worldwide a child is diagnosed with cancer every three minutes, and one in five children diagnosed in the United States will not survive. A recent study shows that of those who survive, 80 percent will suffer from severe or life-threatening conditions as a result of treatment.

“While fewer than 5 percent of adults with cancer participate in a clinical trial, more than 60 percent of childhood cancer patients receive their treatment as part of a clinical trial, designed to offer the best cutting-edge treatment or one that may be better than today’s standard,” said Kathleen Ruddy, chief executive officer for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. “The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is proud to fund this latest round of infrastructure grants, many of which will make more clinical trials available for children closer to their homes. This offers today’s patients more hope and tomorrow’s patients more progress through research.”

This series of grants, combined with the more than $22 million awarded in July, brings the St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s funding total to more than $24.5 million awarded in 2013.