Susanna Fletcher Greer, Chief Scientific Officer at the V Foundation, shared on LinkedIn:
“September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and I keep catching my breath this morning as I read the stories families are sharing.
A first day of school. Packing a lunch. Picking out a ‘cool’ outfit (except I’m 100% sure we don’t say ‘cool’ anymore…maybe ‘fire’, ‘dope’…’solid’?). Figuring out all the homework. Wondering who you’ll sit with at lunch (argh, that one can still make my stomach flip!). Those should be the big things in a child’s world.
Cancer changes all of that. Suddenly families are thinking about scans, treatments, clinical trials, (so, so much) uncertainty, and whether there is another option somewhere they haven’t found yet. Constant, constant advocacy for their little. Cancer casts a shadow over moments that should simply belong to children.
These stories break my heart. They also motivate me. I feel the urgency.
At the V Foundation , we’re working every day to fund research that creates better treatments and better futures for children with cancer. We’re doing a lot, and we will keep asking how we can do more, how we can move discoveries faster and make sure the best research actually reaches the children who need it. I promise you that.
Because no family should have bigger thoughts this month than finding something…’absolutely fire’ to wear on the magical first day. And all the days that follow.
Children deserve their childhoods. Research gives us the chance to protect them.”
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