Saving kids who have pediatric cancer requires research funding, report says
Pediatric cancer is rare, but if your child or someone you know gets sick, having the right kind of treatment is critical.
Philadelphia is a hub for medical research, with Penn and CHOP creating a number of revolutionary treatments and even cancer cures.
But those breakthroughs depend on money, and for families with sick kids, it can be the difference between life and death. A sweeping report on pediatric cancer released Thursday focuses on the importance of research funding.
Eight-year-old Lianna Munir has a special relationship with her doctors at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the place that saved her life.
"I'm all better, and I'm not sick anymore," she said.
Two years ago, she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia.
"You just feel like your whole world stops," her mom Adrian Horn said. "And she got really, really sick quickly."
Horn said traditional chemotherapy treatments were brutal and didn't work.
"I think she coded like three times in eight days," Horn said.
Lianna was switched to CAR T therapy, in which the patient's immune system is genetically modified to fight the cancer.
"This therapy is a game changer. In my almost 30 years of practice, this is one of the biggest breakthroughs that I've witnessed," Dr. Sue Rheingold with CHOP said.
Lianna got better quickly and was able to get back to school and sports, and she's now on a maintenance program.
"That's been working great," her mom said. "And we are now at a point where she has zero detectable leukemia in her bone marrow."
Lianna's case is featured in the first pediatric cancer progress report from the American Association for Cancer Research. It's a call to action aiming to get more money for research from the National Institutes of Health.
"Currently, only about 4% of the NIH budget is aimed at pediatric cancer research," Elaine R. Mardis, a past president of the association, said.
The report says pediatric cancer survival rates are up, and deaths are down — a reflection of advances made in finding and treating cancer.
"Without the pediatric research, CAR T wouldn't even be a thing. She wouldn't even be in the place that she's in," Horn said. "She would still be sick."
Lianna has her Christmas outfit together, and she's looking forward to a festive season, thanks to the research that created her breakthrough treatment.
The CAR T therapy for leukemia was created at Penn and CHOP. Emily Whitehead was the first pediatric patient to test what has become a cancer cure. She's now a student at the University of Pennsylvania.