September 2026 – In Cole’s memory: Advancing Childhood Cancer Research
We nearly kill children trying to save their lives. That is the brutal reality of chemotherapy.
One of Cole’s pediatric oncology nurses sadly once told me that she tells people, “I poison children for a living.” As difficult as those words are to hear, she isn’t wrong.
After decades of cancer research, this is still, in many cases, the best we have: therapies that are decades old, incredibly toxic, and often devastating to a child’s developing body, and long-term survivability.
During Cole’s four years of treatment, he received three different chemotherapy drugs derived from the nitrogen-mustard family, a class of drugs that traces its origins to research into mustard agents used in chemical warfare.
We can do better. Our children deserve better.
Only about 4% of national cancer research funding goes toward childhood cancer. Yet organizations such as Elevate Childhood Cancer Research and Advocacy are making meaningful strides in advancing research for cancers like Cole’s – Wilms tumor. The Children’s Oncology Group, CAC2, Morgan Adams Foundation, and others are also tirelessly working to drive collaboration, research, innovation, and change.
In Cole’s memory, we are committed to doing our part.
We will continue to work to help advance research, increase funding, and promote the sharing of data so that scientists and clinicians can develop better, safer, and more effective treatments and therapies for childhood cancer.
Cole’s life should mean more than the years we were given with him.
We will continue to fight so that the children who come after Cole have better options, better treatments, and, ultimately, a better chance at life.
For Cole. For the children who come after him. 🤍
#ForCole #ChildhoodCancer #WilmsTumor #ChildhoodCancerResearch #ElevateChildhoodCancer
