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Abbie's Army - Fight kids brain cancer

Health

We want to build 'avatars' – individual tumour models of children with DIPG brain cancer – to inform their clinical treatment.

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About this cause

The mission for 'Abbie's Army' is to raise awareness and funding for medical research into the childhood brain cancer DIPG or Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma. This cancer is responsible for 80% of the brain tumour death that occurs usually in primary school age children, it has no effective treatment or cure - the average survival is just 9 months. This cancer is considered 'rare' and receives no direct Government funding, we are a smal parent led organisation without the usual overheads so every penny we can raise goes to where it is needed the most pursuing the most promising research. This has impact globally not just Nationally. We also support other UK families who are affected by DIPG in the first instance with advice and patient referral for the most promising treatment options.

How this cause brings people in the community together

DIPG patients are usually between the ages of 5 – 9 years, their average survival is just 9 months. Every 9 days a child is diagnosed in the UK with this 100% fatal brain cancer. Research and new treatment options are an area of clear unmet need. In connection with a clinical trial known as BIOMEDE, we have a proposal to ‘personalise’ treatment for all children enrolled. A feature of the trial is the introduction of 'targeted' experimental agents and we want to do this by modelling individual tumour samples from children known as ‘avatars’ These samples will be modeled from biopsy tissue and screened for drug 'hits' Any success will have implications globally not just within the UK. Every day that we do not achieve our goal sadly more children are suffering from this awful disease.