ABOUT PEDIATRIC
BRAIN CANCER
Childhood Brain Cancer: The Stats
nearly
children diagnosed every year
over
unique brain cancers
less than
of the NCI’s budget
CHILDHOOD BRAIN CANCER
Learning how to ride a bike. Making friends. Coloring outside the lines. Priceless childhood memories should be experienced with joy and levity, not interrupted by hospital visits and radiation treatment. Although survival rates have increased in recent years, brain tumors continue to steal too many childhoods.
Childhood brain cancer and adult brain cancer affect different parts of the brain and cause different symptoms. Childhood brain tumors tend to be in the lower, more sensitive parts of the brain. This makes treatment more difficult, more expensive and more urgent. On top of that, the brain of a child is still developing, so long-term side effects are much more common.
Despite the fact that pediatric brain cancer steals more lives than any other form of childhood cancer, the National Cancer Institute only dedicates 4 percent of its budget to funding pediatric brain cancer research. This underfunding makes discovering and implementing new treatments much harder and slows down the work for a cure. Natalie’s A.R.T. Foundation exists to help fund this research – as well as to support families and raise awareness so that every kid can have the childhood they deserve.
DIPG: The Stats
deadliest pediatric brain tumor
month median survival time
years without medical advancement
DIFFUSE INTRINSIC
PONTINE GLIOMA
Nearly 60 years ago, Neil Armstrong’s daughter was diagnosed with a rare, inoperable pediatric brain tumor called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). She passed away less than a year later. To this day, treatment for DIPG remains virtually unchanged.
DIPG is an uncontained, malignant tumor that occurs in the brainstem, making removal impossible. Symptoms of DIPG include problems with eye movement, motor skills and hearing, along with facial weakness and drooping. Currently, standard radiation therapy is used to calm the symptoms, but the tumor will inevitably return. The survival rate is 0 percent, with children only able to live a year or two past the diagnosis.
We recognize that this prognosis sounds bleak. However, there are experts actively seeking a solution for these kids. Tissue samples are getting easier to obtain, and scientific breakthroughs are happening faster than ever, giving us hope that new treatments are getting closer every day.
DIPG affects between 200 and 400 children per year worldwide, and there have recently been three new cases in the Kansas City area. We need your help funding research and supporting these families so we can get control of this fatal disease once and for all.
For more information, please visit the DIPG Registry.
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SOURCES
Brain Tumor Statistics. (2014).
Childhood Cancer Infographics.
What Are the Differences Between Adult and Childhood Brain Cancers? [Blog Post]. (2017, May 24).
Johung, T.B. & Monje, M. (2012). Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma: Clinical Features and Ongoing Discoveries.
Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). (2014).