FREE MAMMOGRAM PROGRAM
Friends of CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Foundation in Texas received funding to provide free 3D mammograms to women without health care coverage or financial capacity. Mammograms are used to scan for early signs of breast cancer.
IMPROVING CANCER STAGING
The Molecular Positron Lymphography research team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center MSKCC) is focused on improving cancer staging. Cancer staging is the process of determining how much cancer is in the body and if it has spread. MSKCC’s research project examines tumor draining lymph nodes (LN) to help prevent patients from developing cancer and keep them from having to undergo surgery for LN evaluation.
CHEMO CARE PACKAGES
Nothing brings a smile to the face like a care package! Lemons of Love does just that with their Chemo Care Packages. The packages offer strength and support to keep patients moving forward through their chemotherapy treatment. Each package is filled with carefully selected, quality products with a purpose. Some items help manage treatment’s short-term side effects, and other items simply provide joy.
NEURO-ANATOMY LAB
Thanks to donor generosity, the neurosciences anatomy laboratory at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center opened in May, 2015. The facility is equipped with surgical stations and imaging equipment that replicate a neuro-operating room to enable “mock” surgical procedures on cadaver heads for training and research purposes. New imaging technology allows our scientists to visualize intricate anatomy in the brain that has never been seen before and will lead to the discovery of safe approaches to access deep-seated lesions in the brain without disturbing vital elements. After refining highly accurate neurosurgical techniques in the anatomy lab, Aurora researchers and clinicians will translate them to the operating room, where we strive to make existing surgical procedures more accurate, less invasive and safer for patients.
GENETIC RESEARCH
Children’s Cancer Therapy Development Institute is working to answer one of the most common questions from cancer patients: “Why did this cancer start, and how can we stop it?” Their genetic research team is diving into an aspect of cancer cell division that is often taken for granted, and exploring whether cancer genes turn on and off. By better understanding gene mutations and the origins of a tumor, this research could lead to better treatment in pediatric cancer.
NANOKNIFE TECHNOLOGY
NanoKnife is new-to-Wisconsin technology used to better treat people with inoperable and difficult-to-reach tumors. The NanoKnife is for liver and pancreatic cancer, but ist’s also proven success in prostate, lung, kidney and head/neck tumors. Recents results indicate a median survival of 29 months for pancreatic cancer patients - compared to the historical survival rate of 11 to 13 months.
MAMMOGRAPHY MOBILE OUTREACH PROJECT (MMOP)
The Mammography Mobile Outreach Project (MMOP) will target women 40 and older from the city of Milwaukee (Blacks/African-Americans and Hispanics/Latinas) and Ozaukee and Washington counties (Whites) who have difficulty gaining access to traditional breast-cancer screening programs -- providing free screening mammograms and, as needed, diagnostic services and assistance with establishing financial eligibility for treatment. The project will provide screening for 800 women in the grant year, increasing breast-cancer awareness, promoting proactive care, and improving breast-cancer survival through early detection.
TEAM PHOENIX
Team Phoenix is a 14-week program designed to support breast cancer survivors' fitness journeys. The program is tailored to each individual's abilities and can be modified for patients experiencing cancer treatment side effects. The ultimate goal is for Team Phoenix members to complete a triathlon together. As teammates, they motivate and support one another as they achieve new and exciting milestones together, transforming themselves and their bodies from survivor to athlete.
MOBILE MAMMOGRAPHY VEHICLE
The CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Mobile Mammography Unit (MMU) serves Bexar County and surrounding Texas counties to give women access to one of the most impactful health screening for women – a mammogram – regardless of their ability to pay.
Grant funding will be used to purchase of a new mobile unit. The new coach has been designed to accommodate patients before, during, and after their mammogram. From clothes changing areas to an area for patient counselling to a wheel chair lift, the Mobile Mammography Unit team has made patient accessibility, comfort and care a priority.
HEALING GARDEN
Thanks to the support of individuals, families, corporations and foundations, Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center is home to one of the nation’s largest healing gardens. Located on the 8th floor, the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation’s Healing Garden includes an indoor conservatory donated by Agnes and Morland Hamilton, over 100 different plant varieties, multiple sculptures and a view overlooking downtown Milwaukee, American Family Field and Lake Michigan.
The outdoor garden features a labyrinth for patients, family members and caregivers to use as a form of meditation. Pathways are wheel chair and hospital bed accessible. Healing gardens are recognized as an asset for health care facilities. As part of the healing process, they contribute to the overall quality of the health care. Clinical studies have shown that viewing nature produces positive changes in a patient’s blood pressure, heart activity, muscle tension and brain activity.
CANCER NURSE NAVIGATORS
Cancer Nurse Navigators have been funded with an additional $110,000 to support the oncology navigators and over $440,000 has been funded to help guide patients through their cancer care.
OTHER PROJECTS FUNDED
$200,000
RESEARCH PROJECT FOR TRANSITIONAL ONCOLOGY
$450,000
CANCER RESEARCH AWARDS
$150,000
CARDIO GENOMIC PRECISION MEDICINE
$200,000
CLINIC RENOVATION
$5,000
PATIENT EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
$300,000
NEW CANCER CENTERS
$12,000
CANCER PROMOTERS TRAINING PROGRAM
$440,000
CANCER NURSE NAVIGATORS
BART AND CHERRY STARR HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY FELLOWSHIP FUND
Each year, Children’s of Alabama treats more than 2,000 children with cancer and serious blood disorders from across the state of Alabama and beyond. The Bart and Cherry Starr Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Fund at Children’s of Alabama will focus on blood and marrow transplants for children, which treat and can sometimes even cure blood cancers, like leukemia, and other serious diseases, like sickle cell anemia.
PEDIATRIC GLIOBLASTOMAS RESEARCH
Pediatric glioblastoma is an aggressive disease with no cure. The main problem is not how to get the drug at the brain tumor, but how to spread it within the brain tumor. Johns Hopkins University will test a strategy that spreads a powerful therapeutic over the entire tumor to help eradicate cancer cells, leaving no cancer cell behind.
ANTICIPATING TREATMENT RESISTANCE
Currently, patients who receive treatment for the most common pediatric brain tumor, Medulloblastoma, have a significant reduction in their quality of life. The Medical University of South Carolina is working to eliminate this for pediatric brain cancers through a research project focused on anticipating treatment resistance. They are working hard to improve the quality of life for young cancer patients.
CAR-T THERAPY
Children’s Wisconsin is dissecting the cellular mechanisms of differential outcomes of CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor Therapy) in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. By collecting samples from pediatric cancer patients who have received engineered T cells to aid in their recovery, Children’s Wisconsin is able to better understand how the immune system works to fight cancer.
TREATMENT OF RELAPSED OR REFRACTORY NEUROBLASTOMA
This study will use immunotherapy to harness one of the child's parent's immune system to fight the cancer. To our knowledge, this is the first clinical trial to administer haploiidentical ex-vivo expanded NK cells to kids with cancer. Blood from one of the parents will be collected and sent to the laboratory to grow Natural Killer (NK) cells. Because NK cells are good at killing cancer, but not always at recognizing tumor cells, the NK cells will be infused with an anti-body that specifically attaches to neuroblastoma.
DEVELOPMENT, MAINTENANCE AND UTILIZATION OF A PEDIATRIC SOLID TUMOR XENOGRAFT BANK
Despite progress in pediatric cancer care, the treatment for many pediatric solid tumors has not significantly changed in the past twenty years. Children with relapsed or resistant disease have even fewer treatment options available and almost none that result in cure. It is clear that these children will require novel and innovative therapies that target their disease.
This research grant will enrich the pediatric solid tumor xenograft program that has been established and evaluate novel therapeutics for pediatric solid tumor types that are traditionally understudied and underfunded.
DYNAMIC REGULATION OF FUSION GENES IN PEDIATRIC CANCERS
Dr. Keller and his team are working to answer one of the most common questions from cancer patients: “Why did this cancer start, and how can we stop it?” Their research into gene mutations, the origins of a tumor and whether cancer genes turn on and off could lead to better treatment in pediatric cancer.