http://beta.razoo.com/blog/show/1959 Sat, 08 Sep 2007 19:04:33 GMT Latest posts from Jenn B's community blog http://beta.razoo.com/blog_post/2774/show <p>White Plains, NY - Light the Night® National Friends and Family, Friends of Heroes (FOH), hopes to claim a huge prize at the end of 2007 the chance to place the group's name on a pediatric cancer research grant. The team, which is raising funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, must raise $100,000 to receive the Society's grant-naming opportunity, but it does not plan to stop there. The national goal for this year's team is $160,000, an amount that would bring its total for four Light The Night Walk seasons to more than $1 million!</p> <p>FOH has raised over $844,000 during the past three years to support the Society's mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. The is thrilled to have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of pediatric cancer patients and their families. The 2007 Light The Night Walk will be held throughout North America. For a list of locations, visit www.lightthenight.org/friendsofheroes.</p> <p>FOH has been successful enough for the past two years, that the Society has bestowed upon it the prestigious honor of having a grant in its name. For the third year in a row, FOH has selected Joseph Wiemels, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, as the grantee to have its name associated with for his outstanding research in the area of childhood leukemia.</p> <p>“We are trying to answer the question: what causes childhood leukemia?” declares Dr. Wiemels. Dr. Wiemels grant is made under the Society’s Career Development Program (CDP), which funds talented researchers at different points in their developing careers.</p> <p>Deborah Banker, Ph.D., Vice President of Research Communications for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society states, "Significant progress has been made in curing cancer and improving the long-term survival of children with cancer. Unfortunately, as many as two-thirds of survivors may experience at least one lasting effect of cancer treatments. Many of these are late effects that are life changing or even life threatening, but they might be avoided if cancers could be detected early and full cancer development halted. Dr. Wiemels is applying state-of-the-art genetic techniques so that doctors might be able to recognize cancer progression very early and treat it when it might be easiest to cure without long-term negative effects."</p> <p>About Friends of Heroes (FOH) <br />Friends of Heroes, formerly Friends of Allie, is the first and largest national Friends and Family Team for Light The Night Walk. Motivated by the plight of Allie Scott (www.scotthousehold.com) and other children battling blood cancers like her, a grassroots movement emerged shortly after Allie’s passing, resulting in the formation of FOH and its unprecedented fundraising efforts for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. FOH enlarged its scope to include affiliate teams—both corporate and Friends and Family teams—who share their passion for finding a cure for pediatric blood cancers and making a difference in the lives of families stricken by pediatric blood cancer. Their tagline is “Putting a Face on Childhood Cancer.”</p> <p>For more information, please visit: www.friendsofheroes.org</p> <p>About Light The Night Walk <br />Light The Night Walk is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's nationwide annual evening fundraising walk, held each fall to celebrate and commemorate people whose lives have been touched by cancer. Proceeds from the Walk advance the Society's efforts to find cures for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma, and to provide education and services for patients with these diseases and their families. Participants walk a short distance, carrying lighted balloons—white for survivors, red for supporters, and gold to commemorate lives lost to cancer. Dedication banners provide an opportunity to display a name or message, honoring or commemorating a family member or friend with cancer.</p> <p>Light The Night is open to all; it does not require a particular level of fitness. In 2006, thousands of people in approximately 250 communities in the United States and Canada participated in a Light The Night Walk event, raising nearly $33 million for research and patient services.</p> <p>For more information, please visit: www.lightthenight.org</p> <p>About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society <br />The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, headquartered in White Plains, NY, with 68 chapters in the United States and Canada, is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. The Society's mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, the Society has invested more than $550 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Last year alone, the Society made 4.2 million contacts with patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals.</p> <p>For more information about blood cancer, visit www.LLS.org or call the Society's Information Resource Center (IRC), a call center staffed by master's level social workers, nurses and health educators who provide information, support and resources to patients and their families and caregivers. IRC information specialists are available at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.</p> <p>###</p> Sat, 08 Sep 2007 19:04:33 GMT http://beta.razoo.com/blog/rss/2314 Jenn B http://beta.razoo.com/blog_post/2180/show <p>As parents, we go to great lengths to protect our children from harm - starting at the moment they’re born or even at the moment we have a positive pregnancy test. We buy baby gates and monitors. We watch the latest toy recalls. We teach our kids to not accept candy or rides from strangers and to “just say no”.</p> <p>However, when a family hears the diagnosis that their child has cancer, it can be quite overwhelming, if not devastating.</p> <p>Childhood Cancer Affects the Whole Family</p> <p>“Childhood cancer is a family disease since it affects everyone in the family’s system… this includes families, school and friends, the total environment of the child,” says Nancy Cincotta (1), MSW, LCSW, ACSW, BCD and Psychosocial Director at Camp Sunshine [http://www.campsunshine.org].</p> <p>Cincotta encourages families find a group as a way to cope and find support. “The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a tremendous resource for families on back to school initiatives, on information services for financial support.”</p> <p>When we (Friends of Heroes) raise money for Light The Night, we help support families as they deal with first diagnosis and endure their cancer journey. </p> <p>Through the Patient Services programs and resources such as patient education programs and the Information Resource Center, the Society made 4.2 million contacts with patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals in FY’06. The Family Support Groups and First Connection served nearly 16,000 people. <br />This support is free to families because of money donated through Light The Night and other Society programs.</p> <p>Survivorship Issues</p> <p>Currently, there are approximately 270,000 living survivors of their childhood cancer and their cancer treatment (2). This group continues to grow as advanced, less-toxic treatments are developed.</p> <p>"Newer therapies are based on improved understanding of the potential treatment complications of those earlier therapies," said Leslie L. Robison (3), PhD, Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control at St. Jude, principal investigator of CCSS, and senior author of the study.</p> <p>While hopeful, it’s expected that three-quarters of this group will develop a chronic health problem and 40 percent may experience a “serious, life-threatening, disabling, or fatal condition” (3) within 30 years of the initial cancer diagnosis. </p> <p>Until targeted-cell therapies advance and only the cancer cells are affected and not the normal tissues or more advanced treatments are developed, many survivors will continue to be afflicted with cognitive and late effects from radiation and chemotherapy.</p> <p>For more on cancer survivorship and a continuing series on childhood cancer, visit http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page?item_id=74410. </p> <p>Future Treatment Options and Prevention for Childhood Blood Cancer</p> <p>Thirty years ago, a child’s cancer diagnosis most likely meant a death sentence. But, with years of research, a family can now get through cancer treatment with increased hopes for survival. A cure for blood cancers still has not been discovered, but the future holds hope for a breakthrough with continued funding and research.</p> <p>For the past three years, Joseph Wiemels, PhD, has been the recipient of funding because Friends of Heroes and affiliates raised over $100,000 each year to achieve a grant-naming opportunity bestowed by the Society.</p> <p>“Wiemels is acknowledged as a mainstream expert on the origins of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.” (4)</p> <p>He led the research discovering that most dormant childhood leukemias begin before birth and he continues to research in hopes to identify the causes – dietary, environmental, or otherwise - that could result in the potentially harmful genetic mutation.</p> <p>“Unraveling the causes and timing of the mutations that lead to leukemia, may allow us to predict and prevent this devastating disease,” said Wiemels (5).</p> <p>What can we do? </p> <p>Once again in 2007, Friends of Heroes hopes to reach the $100,000 needed for the grant-naming opportunity so we can continue to support Dr. Wiemels’ research. We will also be supporting valuable Patient Services with the money we raise for Light The Night. </p> <p>Please join us as a donor, a walker or an affiliate team so we can continue to help pediatric cancer patients and their families. Your help makes a difference to improve the lives of patients and can fund the necessary research to find a CURE!</p> <p>To make a difference today, donate quickly and securely online: <br />http://www.active.com/donate/ltnFresno/jennFOH</p> <p>Sources: <br />1 http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/graphics/National/EI2530DFinalTranscription.pdf <br />2 http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aid=2800901 <br />3 http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/71319.cfm <br />4 http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/feature/200703082.html <br />5 http://www.ucsfhealth.org/adult/health_library/news/2002/05/9747.html </p> Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:35:52 GMT http://beta.razoo.com/blog/rss/2314 Jenn B