Ewing's Sarcoma

Why we must act

Half a century ago, it was frighteningly jaw-dropping to learn that a friend or loved one had
cancer. Today, it's so prevalent that it has become a norm in our conversations. Almost
every family has been tragically touched by the genetic disease. Friends, neighbors, siblings,
aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, young or old, no one is immune. The number of cancer
incidences and death rates continue to climb each year. More and more people will be affected.
Cancer is one of the most significant public health concerns worldwide and is the second leading cause of death in the United States. According to the SEERS cancer database, an estimated 2 million people will be diagnosed with cancer and 609,820 people will die of it in the United States in 2023. In 2017, $147 billion was spent on cancer care, while only approximately $7 billion was spent on research to find a cure. What many don't know, however, is that only 5% of cancer research funding proposals are approved by the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Congress has voted to cut the current cancer research funding budget by 17%. Research for rare cancer types will feel the greatest impact due to their already-neglected financing. Our mission is to bring public awareness to the difficulties in gaining government support for cancer research in order to find a cure, particularly for rarer cancer types, and help raise money to fund the clinical trials for a new cancer immunotherapy cure.

Among all rare cancer types, one of which mostly strikes us as children and young adults:
Ewing's Sarcoma (ES). It is driven by a harmful genetic mutation and is the 2nd most
common bone cancer affecting children and young adults with a median age of 15 years old. Approximately 200-250 children and adolescents in the United States are diagnosed with ES each year. Although the majority of early-stage cancer can be controlled with a combination of surgery, modern radiation, and intensive chemotherapies, these patients often suffer from lifetime disability or emotional distress due to the conventional therapy-induced side effects. Even after treatment, 50% of cancers return and continue to spread. Once cancer has spread, outcomes are poor with a 15.4-month median overall survival with the best of current therapies. This outcome is dismal. There is an urgent need to explore and develop new treatments for cancers like ES. We are working with multiple Sarcoma research groups to raise funds in order to test a new immunotherapy that has the potential to cure ES without affecting the patient’s quality of life.