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MEDIA RELEASE
24 March 2015
Children’s Cancer Institute and The Cure Starts Now join forces
against a devastating killer.
Townsville based cancer research foundation, The Cure Starts Now (Australia), has granted
Children’s Cancer Institute another $100,000 to expand research in to Diffuse Intrinsic
Pontine Glioma (DIPG) – the most aggressive and deadly of all childhood cancers.
The Cure Starts Now is a dedicated group of parents whose sole focus is to raise funds for
life saving research into this terminal childhood cancer; parents like Amanda Griffin whose
daughter Erin was diagnosed with DIPG when she was 11 years old and tragically passed
away in September 2014, at the age of 14: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-0901/childhood-cancer-campaigner-erin-griffin-dies-in-adelaide/5710400
Even while she was battling with her cancer and the side effects of aggressive treatments,
Erin was determined to raise the profile of this devastating disease so that other children in
the future would not have to suffer as she did.
Erin’s engaging personality and sheer courage in the face of her terminal disease won the
hearts and minds of all who became followers of her journey online and through media.
Erin’s final gift was to donate the tumour that took her life to one of Children’s Cancer
Institute’s world-leading research projects, in the hope that the knowledge gained from
studying it might ultimately spare the lives and suffering of other children.
“When Erin was diagnosed, I had no idea kids got brain cancer, or that so many children died
from cancer,” says Amanda, who will visit the Institute on Friday 27th March to present the
cheque from The Cure Starts Now.
“Erin's contribution to the world would have been amazing. Her mission was to spread
international awareness of childhood cancer and I’m determined to continue doing so in her
honour.”
DIPG is described as terminal on diagnosis, which means there is no cure, no effective
treatment and no hope of survival. Surgery is impossible, and most children succumb to the
disease within one year. Over the last 30 years, almost nothing has changed for DIPG
patients in terms of treatment or outcome.
Research being undertaken by Children’s Cancer Institute could transform the way children
with DIPG are treated and ultimately result in a cure. In a world-first, the Institute’s Dr David
Ziegler has devised a plan to test 10,000 drugs for their effectiveness on DIPG tumour tissue
MEDIA RELEASE
24 March 2015
samples to discover which might inhibit DIPG cell growth. His team has already tested more
than 3,500 drugs and are working on a handful that appear to be extremely effective.
“I believe we can do for DIPG what has already been done for leukaemia,” says Dr David
Ziegler, Paediatric Oncologist for the Kids’ Cancer Centre at Sydney Children’s Hospital,
Randwick and Group Leader of Children’s Cancer Institute’s Targeted Therapies program.
“Once, the survival rate for leukaemia was zero. Today, it’s 85%. With enough funding, we
can do the same for DIPG – which is why this generous contribution from the Cure Starts
Now is so much appreciated.”
The contribution to Children’s Cancer Institute is part of a broader initiative by The Cure
Starts Now and its partners within the DIPG Collaborative, for which $2.5M is being delivered
in 2015 to esteemed DIPG research institutions across the globe.
“The time to act is now!” pleads Ren Pedersen, Director of The Cure Starts Now. “The wider
Australian public must help us climb medicine`s Mount Everest and support DIPG research.”
Media enquiries: Catherine Arnott, Media & Communications Advisor; 02 9385 8879;
[email protected]
Children’s Cancer Institute is the only independent medical research organisation in
Australia dedicated 100% to childhood cancer research, existing solely to cure childhood
cancer and improve the quality of life for survivors. The Institute was originally known as
The Children's Leukaemia and Cancer Foundation and was established in May 1976 by a
dedicated group of parents and doctors of children with cancer. Children's Cancer Institute
opened its own research laboratories in 1984 and has since grown to employ nearly 200
staff and students, establishing a national and international reputation for scientific
excellence.
The Cure Starts Now (Australia), www.thecurestartsnow.org/au, in association with the
international DIPG Collaborative (www.dipg.org), is empowering researchers both in our
country and across the globe with funds to target the toughest paediatric brain tumours.
Too often, we tend to fight cancer as individual diseases, ignoring potential commonalities.
Leaders of international research institutions are now enthusiastically embracing universal
cure strategies advocated by the DIPG Collaborative and The Cure Starts Now.