What is Neuroblastoma?
Many parents, including ourselves asked the exact same question when Olivia was given the devastating diagnosis. What is Neuroblastoma? Here are the cold, hard facts about this cancer.
- Neuroblastoma is the second most common solid tumor cancer in infants.
- Most children are diagnosed by the age of 3.
- There are approximately 500 to 800 new cases per year.
- Nearly 70% of children first diagnosed have disease that has metastasized or spread to other parts of the body.
- Those children are given less than 25% survival rate.
- High risk children diagnosed over age five are given a 10% survival rate.
- Only 3% of the money raised for cancer on a national level is designated for childhood cancer research.
- There is a sever lack of funding for research. Most drugs used on neuroblastoma patients today were developed for adults 20 to 30 years ago.
- Immunological therapies (like 3F8 at MSKCC) have made tremendous strides but there are complications. MSKCC anti-body can be manufactured with far-less complications and stunning success if it just had more funding.
- Unfortunately most research funding for neuroblastoma is left to parents who have a child fighting this disease or who have lost a child, like us, and realize that we are the children's only hope.
