THIS YEAR, 300 KIDS WILL BE DIAGNOSED WITH AN INOPERABLE BRAIN TUMOR.
Only 6 of those kids will survive the next 5 years unless we act fast to find the cure for childhood brain cancer.
Maybe it sounds impossible to you, but we have a plan and so far, it’s working.
WHAT IS GIVING FIRST?
Many charities participate in Giving Tuesday, a national fundraising campaign that follows Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. For too long, charities have been an afterthought, tossed whatever pennies are left over after a weekend of spending.
As brain cancer families, we’re used to only getting leftovers. Childhood cancers receive less than 6% of the cancer research budget.
But our children deserve more than leftovers.
That’s why we launched Giving First- a month long fundraiser for brain cancer research and a reminder that childhood cancer research relies on the support of people like you.
A NEW WAY TO FIGHT CANCER.
17 years ago, our daughter, Elena, was diagnosed with DIPG, an inoperable, incurable brain tumor.
There were no treatments, no funding, no options, and no experts. We were told she had less than a year to live and the only thing we could do was go home and make memories.
We felt hopeless, how was it possible that after over a century of trying to cure cancer, researchers were still at square 1 with DIPG?
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, bold advances in cancer research were made, leading to the invention of advanced surgical methods, radiation, and chemotherapy. But the advancements stopped once funding prioritized treatments instead of cures. Leaving patients like our daughter without the hope of survival.
That’s when we realized if we wanted to find the cure for childhood brain cancer, we needed to do things differently. The cure had to start NOW.
Curing cancer is like solving a puzzle.
Research gives us the puzzle pieces but fitting them together requires collaboration, strategy, and a way to identify patterns.
That’s what sets The Cure Starts Now apart from other cancer research charities. We’re not just finding the puzzle pieces, we’re putting the puzzle together.
And so far, it’s working.
Six years ago, Clare and Mackenzie were both diagnosed with inoperable brain tumors. Their families were told their daughters would never attend kindergarten, that there were no options, and they should spend what time they had left making memories with their girls.
Both girls enrolled in a clinical trial funded by The Cure Starts Now and today, thanks to the generosity of donors like you, they are celebrating milestones their families were told they would never reach.
Since their diagnoses, the 5-year survival rate for DIPG has doubled— a statistic we hope will continue to rise as we fund research.
That’s what we’re fighting for. A chance for children to reach more milestones.
Cancer won’t be cured overnight. The clinical trial that saved Clare and Mackenzie’s lives wasn’t a lucky guess from a genius researcher. That clinical trial was the culmination of 17 years of collaboration between The Cure Starts Now and the brightest minds in the childhood brain cancer research community.
The Cure Starts Now represents something truly different — a grassroots community of families whose children have battled cancer, joining forces with the world’s leading cancer researchers to forge a new path toward the cure.
Our families choose to fight with us because they know what their children truly need is a cure. Hats, toys, and candy are great but they don’t keep their kid alive. Better treatments will.
WE'RE NOT FIGHTING ALONE. WE HAVE A COMMUNITY OF FAMILIES BEHIND US.
We are not just another cancer charity. We are an international community of brain cancer families, teaming up with the world's leading childhood brain cancer experts to forge a new path toward the cure.
Our one and only priority is to find the cure so that one day, no family will have to lose their child to brain cancer.
