Health Hero Giving Day

Agency Name: Team Jack Foundation

Why your gift is needed:

Team Jack Foundation's mission is to fund impactful childhood brain cancer research and work to raise national awareness for the disease. Childhood brain cancer affects nearly 4,600 children each year, making it the leading cancer cause of death in children. Each year, less than four percent of U.S. federal funding is solely dedicated to childhood cancer research, and even less than this is spent on child brain cancer research. The Team Jack Foundation has raised more than $8.3 million for brain cancer research. The funding is currently fueling nine research projects nationwide. The Team Jack Foundation is working with world-renowned researchers, directly, to develop relevant and impactful research initiatives.

In addition to national research, the Team Jack Foundation has committed $6.5 million to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Children's Hospital & Medical Center to ensure kids in Nebraska and the Midwest have access to the best care possible when diagnosed with a brain tumor. The first $1.5 million commitment in 2015 was matched by the State of Nebraska for the development of a $3 million childhood brain tumor program at UNMC. The additional $5 million pledge is part of the Team Jack Foundation's new initiative called the POWER5 Pediatric Brain Tumor Initiative which focuses on clinical and laboratory research, pain management in childhood cancer and education right here in Nebraska.

• Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer death from childhood cancer.
• 4,600 children are diagnosed with a brain tumor annually.
• More than 28,000 children (0-14 years of age) are estimated to be living with a brain tumor in the United States.
• The incidence of childhood cancer in Nebraska exceeds the incidence in the United States.
• Nationally, Nebraska has the 5th highest incidence rate per capita, and even more alarming is that Nebraska has the highest mortality rate in the United States.
• From 2010 and 2014, brain and central nervous system (CNS) tumors were the most frequently diagnosed pediatric cancers in Nebraska, accounting for 156 cases.
• Every day, 13 children in the United States are diagnosed with a brain tumor.
• We may spend three to five times the amount of research money per patient on most adult cancer cases than we do on children with cancer.
• Less than 4% of the National Cancer Institute's research investments are spent on childhood cancer, let alone child brain cancer.
• Research that focuses specifically on pediatric brain tumors is crucial to saving children's lives and improving survivors' quality of life.
• The BIGGEST obstacle to NEW childhood brain tumor research studies is the lack of funding. Due to very little Federal funding on pediatric brain cancer research, private Foundations like Team Jack play a critical role in supporting research.
• In addition to funding research, the Foundation works closely with over 70 families in Nebraska and surrounding states who are affected by brain cancer to offer support and to introduce them to others who are affected by the disease. This is known as the Team Jack Family.

What your gift will do:

Donations to the Team Jack Foundation support research for:

1. Identifying and treating childhood brain cancer genetic mutations.
2. Successful, cancer-fighting medicines proven to be gentler on children’s long-term health. And,
3. Improved neurosurgical procedures.

Your investment in Team Jack goes directly to research that will change a child’s life. This fight is bigger than any of us and bigger than our Nebraska home. Nationwide, we will fight for a world without childhood brain cancer.

The average clinical trial takes an estimated investment of $2 million for three years. You can be the difference in funding a child through a clinical trial.

• $10 funds 8 minutes of a clinical trial providing new treatments for a child fighting a brain tumor.
• $25 funds 20 minutes of a clinical trial.
• $50 funds 40 minutes of a clinical trial.
• $100 funds 1 hour 20 minutes of a clinical trial.
• $250 funds 3 hours 17 minutes of a clinical trial.
• $500 funds 6 hours 34 minutes of a clinical trial.

Agency Summary:

Childhood cancer can be an overwhelming topic, but research funded by Team Jack IS making a difference. One drug that Team Jack helped support in its early phase to fight low-grade gliomas, Day 101 (formerly TAK580), has been purchased by a biopharmaceutical company and is in clinical development to fast-track it for FDA approval which will transform the care of children diagnosed with low-grade gliomas. In addition, two of Team Jack's principal investigators at UNMC have received National Institute of Health grants to continue to develop research Team Jack funded in the fight against medulloblastoma tumors, the most common tumor in children. The University of Nebraska Medical Center has also recently hired a pediatric neuro-oncologist in support of our collaborative Power5 Brain Tumor Initiative. We are encouraged by the dedicated work here in Nebraska and across the country by some of the brightest minds in childhood brain cancer research, advancing our mission.

Learn more about us:

Website: https://teamjackfoundation.org/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamJackFoundation/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teamjackfoundation/ 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLPGqRAeOeZ-XBRHvxs2zKw 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/teamjack