Mighty Millie Foundation and Move For Jenn Foundation team up to donate $50,000 to rhabdomyosarcoma childhood cancer research
Millie is not here with us today because of the horrific lack of research and treatment options available for children fighting rhabdomyosarcoma. Every day in the US, 47 families hear the unimaginable words, "your child has cancer." They go on to learn that the treatment options currently available for our precious children carry excruciating, lifelong side-effects and often cannot promise a cure. This reality is unacceptable. The need for more effective and less toxic treatment options for childhood cancer is greater than ever as the number of children fighting cancer is on the rise, yet many of the treatment protocols haven’t advanced in decades, specifically for rhabdomyosarcoma. While this truth is the most painful to bear, we are honored to pave the way for change with a new research project for rhabdomyosarcoma.
The first ever childhood cancer research grant by Mighty Millie Foundation in collaboration with Move For Jenn Foundation is awarded to Beat Childhood Cancer IN:Formation Project to establish the Rhabdomyosarcoma gene sequencing Discovery Fund. Mighty Millie Foundation donated $25,000 and Move For Jenn Foundation donated $25,000, comprised of $15,000 from the Mighty Millie Research Advocacy Fund which was raised by supporters of Millie after her passing, as well as $10,000 additional funds for a total of $50,000 to rhabdomyosarcoma gene sequencing research.
The project looks at biopsy samples to find expressed genes that may be able to be matched with approved medicines to use in conjunction with traditional chemotherapies, radiation, and surgery. The program will ramp up to be available at consortium hospitals across the United States and administered at Levine Children's Cancer & Blood Disorders in Charlotte, NC. This is the first year for rhabdomyosarcoma cancer research and our organizations are honored to be involved with this program at the start. The IN:Formation project already has Ewing’s Sarcoma and Neuroblastoma trials that are providing helpful and actionable information now for children, not just 10 years down the road after the conclusions are published.
Jenn Andrews, Co-Founder of Move for Jenn Foundation, was diagnosed with sarcoma and treated at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, NC. Her oncologist, Dr. Josh Patt is on the board of Move For Jenn Foundation. The consortium includes many hospitals partnered with the Mighty Millie Popsicle Project, where Mighty Millie Foundation donates organic freezer popsicles to the oncology units to provide small moments of big joy to children during treatment. The connections, location, and advanced scientific nature of the work being done specifically for rhabdomyosarcoma all contributed to a fantastic opportunity for this collaboration.
Personalized medicine is a part of the future of treating cancer. In fact, it’s already a large part of adult treatment plans. This discovery fund will allow this type of treatment to transfer to pediatric oncology, offering patients with rhabdomyosarcoma more information about their specific cancer and allowing doctors to create more personalized treatment plans based on the information. All findings will be shared with the consortium of hospitals, allowing doctors access to more information to glean for their future patients. Providers outside of the consortium can still access the trial, be dual enrolled with other precision medicine programs, and access research for more gene sequencing. The more we are able to find out about individual cancers, the more dots can be connected with advancing research technology.
We must change the available options for children now and for the 47 children who will be diagnosed tomorrow. No one should hear the words “your child has cancer,” but if they do, they should have better options than Millie did. That is why we must do more.
What can you do to help?
We as friends, family, neighbors, and even people we do not know can come together in community to fund early stage childhood cancer research. With the right funding, oncologists can prove their science, expand their knowledge, and collaborate with other researchers from across the globe. When we collectively fund this work, the institutions can share the findings broadly through scientific journals or other information sharing agreements. When the research is proven, more funds are likely to become available through public and private programs.
But you have to start somewhere. That’s where organizations like Mighty Millie Foundation and Move For Jenn Foundation come together and make an impact. We are honored every single day to help Millie change the world. We’d give anything for her to be here to see the impact she is making in the world, but until we’re together again, we’ll continue to spread her light.
Help us continue the fight against childhood cancer, specifically rhabdomyosarcoma, by making a donation today or joining our Gold Circle monthly giving program.
Together, forever, we fight childhood cancer in honor of Millie. 💛🎗️
