Stalled Research, Lagging Advancements & Increased Fatality Rates

Brain cancer has overtaken leukemia as the leading cause of cancer-related death for children. The reason children succumb to their cancer will remain a mystery until researchers are able to study both the diseased and healthy brain tissue of those children who do not survive their disease.

Leukemia is a blood disease and it is fairly simple to obtain blood samples to fuel research. It is not easy to obtain tissue samples when the disease is in a child’s brain.

It is not easy to obtain tissue samples when the disease is in a child’s brain. Tissue samples can be obtained during a craniotomy, a complex surgery to remove the tumor from the brain; samples can be obtained through a biopsy which also can be complicated and pose risks for the child; and samples can be obtained at the time of death through an autopsy.

Tragically, one-in-five children who are diagnosed with brain cancer, die from their disease; and sadly, researchers and physicians do not know why the treatments do not work for these children. Until researchers are able to study the brain tissue of children who do not survive their cancer, it will remain a mystery why these children do not survive their disease.

When a child’s life ends too soon, donating tissue is a way for a family to take a final stand against cancer. Many families have reported their decision to donate their child’s autopsy tissue was one of the few positive steps they could take during those final tragic days. Tissue donation is a contribution to improving outcomes for children with brain cancer that only families can make.