Thank you for your interest in Kids v Cancer. I want to update you on recent developments and our future plans (and, in the interest of full disclosure, if you read to the bottom of this letter, you'll find a soft request that, as you consider your end-of-year giving, you would consider us).
This time of year brings back so many memories of Jacob - skating in Central Park, watching the Collegiate basketball games, throwing snow balls from snow on car windshields on the way to school and becoming ill.
What I have learned is that my story is not unique. Every week a classroom of kids die of cancer.
The last four years have been a remarkable ride for Kids v Cancer:
Our Creating Hope Act, which creates a market-based incentive to spur pediatric cancer drug development, was signed into federal law this summer as Section 908 of the FDA Safety and Innovation Act.
We started an autopsy tissue donation program for pediatric brain cancers, which has already led to significant scientific discoveries.
We raised the profile of pediatric cancer by having September declared to be National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month for each of the past three years.
Weworked with the FDA to find new ways to accelerate the development of drugs potentially useful in treating pediatric cancer.
Along the way, Kids v Cancer has attracted some terrific media coverage for its efforts including a report on "ABC Nightline" and a Washington Post
op-ed.
Now Kids v Cancer is poised to grow to the next level. It would be fabulous if you would consider being part of this endeavor.
Thank you. May this be a year of health for us all.