The End of Pediatric Cancer Research as We Know It? A commentary on Mathew Zachary’s piece and the Premature Argument that it is “Mission Accomplished”
December 22, 2015Expanded Access Programs 2016
January 30, 2016
You are brought into a small room: a doctor, a nurse, a social worker and you. The look on their faces is dire. You can feel the fear building; it is palpable. And then you hear the words I’m sorry, “your child has cancer.” This scenario repeats itself 43 times each day in the United States. In April 2008, my family heard those words about our 2-year-old daughter Alexis. Alexis fought against inoperable and terminal brain cancer for 33 months before passing away in January 2011. Similarly, in May 2007, David and Annemarie Plotkin heard these words about 4-year-old Max. Max now stands as a “poster child” for giving other families hope.
The Max Cure Foundation (MCF) was founded on hope. Eight years after Max’s diagnosis with B Cell Lymphoma of the bone, Max and his story and the work of MCF provide hope to those diagnosed with childhood cancer. It is a long and lonely road that we strive to make easier for every family we can assist.
Your support of MCF has been and/or would be critical in 2015. As a result:
- We have now provided over $300,000 in support to families facing the economic challenges from the diagnosis of their child with cancer.
- We commanded the fundraising efforts that raised over $17,000 for the family of an active duty Navy SEAL experiencing financial difficulty following the diagnosis of their young daughter with an aggressive form of brain cancer.
- Richard Plotkin continues to be a highly sought after speaker/panelist regarding the Josh Hardy case and expanded access and was appointed as the pediatric cancer patient advocate for a national committee on expanded access at NYU.
- Richard appeared and presented at the: CBI.Net Conference; Harvard Medical School; Mays Business School, Texas A & M; New York Academy of Science; and nationally syndicated radio interviews on NPR and CBS.
- The Max Cure Foundation’s funding for the Immune Cell Laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has directly supported the initiation of two new clinical trials in 2015.
- Since 2007 MCF has funded over $1,200,000 to research, with over $865,000 to the Max Cure Fund at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for research in the Immune Cell Laboratory.
As 2015 comes to a close and we look forward to 2016, an ambitious agenda lies ahead. You can help us realize many of our goals for 2016 and once again you can be a part of the hope that MCF provides for so many.
We at MCF, including David, Annemarie and Richard Plotkin (and of course Max) thank you for considering us for a tax-deductible contribution in your 2015 year end charitable giving. There is no donation that is too small.
Sincerely
Jonathan Eric Agin, JD
Executive Director
