Limited funding, clinical challenges hamper childhood cancer research, expert says

Jacy McAlexander and his mom, Kerri, are insistent about one thing – more resources need to be directed to researching cures for childhood cancers.
“Many people think that when they donate to cancer research that all the money is divided up equally among all kinds of cancers, and this just isn’t true,” said Jacy, a 16-year-old South Central Calhoun High School sophomore. “I wish that childhood cancer research was given a larger portion of those funds. There has been a lot of progress made in the last few years in curing childhood cancers, but until more funding is given to pediatric cancer, the research won’t be equal to that of adult cancers.”
Cancer research organizations say about 4 percent of federal cancer research funding is dedicated to childhood cancers. Kerri McAlexander, while sympathetic to adults who are diagnosed with cancer, said the consequences children face when they develop cancer are much more significant.
“The average age of (childhood cancer) diagnosis is 6,” she said. “When a child is diagnosed (and dies) they lose 50 years off of their expected lifespan.” 
Read more in the Sept. 28 edition.