Your Support at Work! ALSF Research Develops New Model to Help Treat Medulloblastoma

Check it out…the latest example that your support and our efforts to fund childhood cancer research is making a difference!

Through a study partially funded by ALSF, researchers in California have developed a new model that will help scientists test and develop more effective therapies for medulloblastoma – a particularly aggressive form of a childhood brain tumor. Kids with medulloblastoma have a high survival rate, but the treatment itself can leave them with a significant risk of other disorders and mental impairments.

ALSF Innovation Award grantee Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and an international team of researchers have worked to pinpoint specific proteins found in some forms of medulloblastoma that appear to respond to a drug designed to reduce the activity of these proteins.

Maybe you’ve heard of the term/buzzword personalized medicine? This work is an important step toward utilizing this concept in kids with cancer. Instead of treating all kids who have medulloblastoma with the same drug, a doctor might one day be able to test the child’s tumor, find out which genes or proteins are out of whack, and specifically treat the tumor with drugs that will be most effective. Just as important - it could help in developing drugs that effectively treat the cancer and have fewer side effects, so the kids can go on to lead a more normal life after treatment.

So, I did my best to give a basic overview of the research, but there’s so much more to the amazing work these researchers are doing. You can read additional details about this study that we were honored to help fund in an article recently published in the journal Cancer Cell.

Just one more quick note – the article was dedicated to a little boy named Cameron Jackson who died earlier this year after a long battle with medulloblastoma. In this same spirit, I would like to recognize one of our own childhood cancer heroes Halle Middleton, who bravely fought medulloblastoma and is currently in remission! For a recent school project, Halle had to do a report on a famous Pennsylvanian and act it out. We were honored that she chose my daughter, Alex, and she nailed it! Please take a few minutes and watch Halle’s report – it is truly inspirational and speaks volumes to the importance of raising funds for research like Dr. Wechsler-Reya’s working to find cures so that kids like Halle don't miss out on school projects.

-Jay Scott, Alex's Dad

Forget wining and dining…do something meaningful on Valentine’s Day

Whether you look forward to the annual holiday on February 14^th or dread the thought of it each year, we ask you to forgo feelings of despair or gifts of flowers and candy to truly embrace the spirit of love by supporting Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. We’re not talking about the romantic, materialistic love that retailers want to sell you on, but instead the love seen in the face of Alex and all of our childhood cancer heroes. So put aside the cupids, conversation hearts and carnations and consider truly giving the sweetest gift you can give – hope to kids battling cancer.

Below are a few ideas to open up your heart this year:

• Show your love to kids like Ryder, by signing up to hold a lemonade stand during National Lemonade Days! We encourage people to hold lemonade stands at anytime of the year, but National Lemonade Days (June 8-10, 2012) is what Alex envisioned when she originally held her stand in her front yard – a dedicated weekend where the country would come together and show their love for all kids fighting cancer. It’s easy, sign up today. In addition, consider spreading the love by becoming a Nat'l Lemonade Days Stand Ambassador!

• Instead of spending $100 on flowers destined to wilt or dinner at a crowded restaurant, show how big your heart is by making a donation in your sweetheart’s name to ALSF. Procrastinators – we’ve got you covered… donate online right now!

• Get your heart pumping and sign up for Team Lemon! Pick a race and sign up as a couple, family or by yourself to raise money and awareness for ALSF. Plan to visit the “City of Brotherly Love” and sign up for the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia being held on May 6. This race sells out fast – shoot us an email at TeamLemon@AlexsLemonade.org to reserve your spot with Team Lemon.

• They’ll be no shortage of love if you win a brand new, red Volvo XC60. Donate to our cause by purchasing raffle tickets to win a new Volvo XC60 (you can choose the color) being auctioned off at Alex’s “Original” Lemonade Stand on June 9.

• Warm everyone’s hearts (and heads, legs, arms…) with something from ALSF’s gift shop. Our new hoodies are a great way to show your support for Alex’s mission to find a cure for all childhood cancers while staying cozy in the winter months.

Guest Blog: Hero Cameron Mathes on Kids Helping Kids

Schools have become an integral group of supporters for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation with perhaps one of the greatest examples being The Potter Cup. Each year for the past nine years, two middle schools in the Philadelphia suburbs – Haverford Middle School and Paxon Hollow Middle School, hold a great event consisting of several athletic competitions, games, pep rallies, food, lemonade (of course) and a lot of noise! All of this spirited competition results in an amazing fundraising event benefiting ALSF and embodies one of the pillars of our mission – kids helping kids. The 2012 Potter Cup was held last Friday, January 27 with Paxon Hollow Middle School taking home the cup and raising more than $38,000 for the Foundation.

We found out that one student at Paxon Hollow, Cameron Mathes, actually received treatment at the same time as Alex Scott and bravely spoke to his classmates at his school’s pep rally before the games began about why raising funds for childhood cancer research is so important. We are honored to feature Cameron as our guest blogger this week adding to our group of amazing childhood cancer heroes!

My school, Paxon Hollow Middle School, participates in the Potter Cup each year with Haverford Middle School to raise money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand. I had acute lymphoblastic leukemia when I was younger, and I wanted to share my experience with my classmates. On the morning of The Potter Cup, I spoke to the students at the school in order to help them understand what it was like to have cancer. The Potter Cup raised more than $38,000 this year, and I am proud to have been involved in raising money to help find a cure for childhood cancer. Here is my story that I told to my classmates:

My name is Cameron Mathes, and I am a seventh grader at Paxon Hollow. When I was 3 years old, I was diagnosed with leukemia, which is a type of cancer. I want to talk to you today to tell you what it was like to have cancer.

I don’t remember a lot from when I was sick, but I do remember that I couldn’t go to school, I had to get a lot of needles, and I lost all of my hair. I spent many days and nights at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), but they tried to make it a happy place for sick kids. I liked watching the ball machine in the lobby, I watched the Amtrak trains go by on the tracks, I enjoyed playing in the game room, the food was good, and I ate a lot of McDonald’s.

My parents have told me that when I was sick, it was a scary time for them. I had to have numerous medical procedures, I had pneumonia, my liver reacted badly to one of the medicines, and I had mouth sores so bad that I couldn’t eat. I stopped receiving chemotherapy treatments when I was almost 6 years old. After five years, the effects of the medicine I received had all worn off, and now I only have to go for check-ups once a year.

I didn’t know it at the time, but Alex, the girl who started Alex’s Lemonade Stand, was a patient at CHOP when I was. We received medicine next to each other in the day hospital, and we spent several nights in the hospital at the same time. I am proud to be a cancer survivor. I am happy to be alive, but am sad for the kids, like Alex, who didn’t survive.

I think it’s great that Paxon Hollow and Haverford Middle Schools raise so much money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand each year. There are many cancer patients who will be happy to know that so many kids are raising money so that a cure for cancer can be found.

- Cameron Mathes

For a variety of ways to get your school involved, check out the schools section on our website!